Idition  At 


AMERICAN  NOTES 

FOR 

GENERAL   CIRCULATION 


AND   HUNTED   DOWN 

BY 

CHARLES   DICKENS 


WITH   ILLUSTRATIONS  BY  MARCUS  STONE 

BOSTON 

ESTES    &     LAURIAT 

1890 


EDITION  DE  LUXE. 
Limited  to  One  Thousand  Copies. 


TYPOGRAPHY  AND  ELECTROTYPING  BY  C.  J. 
PETERS  &  SON.  PRINTED  AT  THE  ESTES 
PRESS,  BY  BERWICK  &  SMITH,  BOSTON,  U.S.A. 


PREFACE. 


MY  readers  have  opportunities  of  judging  for 
themselves  whether  the  influences  and  tendencies 
which  I  distrusted  in  America  had  any  existence 
but  in  my  imagination.  They  can  examine  for 
themselves  whether  there  has  been  anything  in  the 
public  career  of  that  country  since,  at  home  or 
abroad,  which  suggests  that  those  influences  and 
tendencies  really  did  exist.  As  they  find  the  fact, 
they  will  judge  me.  If  they  discern  any  evidences 
of  wrong-going,  in  any  direction  that  I  have  indi- 
cated, they  will  acknowledge  that  I  had  reason  in 
what  I  wrote.  If  they  discern  no  such  thing,  they 
will  consider  me  altogether  mistaken  —  but  not 
wilfully. 

Prejudiced  I  am  not,  and  never  have  been,  other- 
wise than  in  favor  Of  the  United  States.  I  have 
many  friends  in  America,  I  feel  a  grateful  interest 
in  the  country,  I  hope  and  believe  it  will  success- 
fully work  out  a  problem  of  the  highest  importance 
to  the  whole  human  race.  To  represent  me  as 
viewing  AMERICA  with  ill-nature,  coldness,  or  ani- 
mosity, is  merely  to  do  a  very  foolish  thing,  which 

is  always  a  very  easy  one. 
iii 


CONTENTS. 


AMERICAN  NOTES. 

PAGE 

CHAPTER  I. 
Going  Away 1 

CHAPTER  II. 
The  Passage  Out 13 

CHAPTER  III. 
Boston 34 

CHAPTER  IV. 

An  American  Railroad.  —  Lowell  and  its  Factory  System,      88 

CHAPTER  V. 

Worcester.  —  The     Connecticut     River.  —  Hartford.  — 

New  Haven  to  New  York 101 

CHAPTER  VI. 
New  York 114 

CHAPTER  VII. 
Philadelphia,  and  its  Solitary  Prison 140 


VI  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

Washington. — The  Legislature. — And  the  President's 

House  162 


CHAPTER  IX. 

A  Night  Steamer  on  the  Potomac  River.  —  Virginia 
Road,  and  a  Black  Driver.  —  Richmond. — Balti- 
more. —  The  Harrisburg  Mail,  and  a  Glimpse  of  the 
City.  —  A  Canal-Boat 186 


CHAPTER  X. 

Some  Further  Account  of  the  Canal-Boat,  its  Domestic 
Economy,  and  its  Passengers.  —  Journey  to  Pitts- 
burg  across  the  Alleghany  Mountains.  — Pittsburg,  211 


CHAPTER  XI. 

From  Pittsburg  to  Cincinnati  in  a  Western  Steamboat.  — 

Cincinnati  ...          , 227 


CHAPTER  XII. 

From  Cincinnati  to  Louisville  in  another  Western  Steam- 
boat; and  from  Louisville  to  St.  Louis  in  another.  — 
St.  Louis  ,  240 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

A  Jaunt  to  the  Looking-Glass  Prairie  and  back    .    .    .    257 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

Return  to  Cincinnati.  —  A  Stage-Coach  Ride  from  that 
City  to  Columbus,  and  thence  to  Sandusky.  —  So, 
by  Lake  Erie,  to  the  Falls  of  Niagara 269 


CONTENTS.  vii 

PAGE 

CHAPTER  XV. 

In  Canada:  Toronto;  Kingston;  Montreal;  Quebec;  St. 
John's.  —  In  the  United  States  again:  Lebanon;  the 
Shaker  Village;  and  West  Point 293 

CHAPTER  XVI. 
The  Passage  Home 319 

CHAPTER  XVII. 
Slavery 331 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

Concluding  Remarks 354 

POSTSCBIPT 367 

HUNTED  DOWN ,  ,373 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


AMERICAN  NOTES. 

PA  OB 

EMIGRANTS Frontispiece 

THE  SOLITARY  PRISONER 156 

BLACK  AND  WHITE 196 

THE  LITTLE  WIFE 252 


AMEEIOA1ST  NOTES. 


CHAPTER  I. 

GOING   AWAY. 

I  SHALL  never  forget  the  one-fourth  serious  and 
three-fourths  comical  astonishment  with  which,  on 
the  morning  of  the  third  of  January,  eighteen  hun- 
dred and  forty-two,  I  opened  the  door  of,  and  put 
my  head  into,  a  "  state-room  "  on  board  the  Britan- 
nia steam-packet,  twelve  hundred  tons  burden  per 
register,  bound  for  Halifax  and  Boston,  and  carry- 
ing her  Majesty's  mails. 

That  this  state-room  had  been  specially  engaged 
for  "  Charles  Dickens,  Esquire,  and  Lady,"  was  ren- 
dered sufficiently  clear  even  to  my  scared  intellect 
by  a  very  small  manuscript,  announcing  the  fact, 
which  was  pinned  on  a  very  flat  quilt,  covering  a 
very  thin  mattress,  spread  like  a  surgical  plaster  on 
a  most  inaccessible  shelf.  But  that  this  was  the 
state-room  concerning  which  Charles  Dickens,  Es- 
quire, and  Lady,  had  held  daily  and  nightly  confer- 
ences for  at  least  four  months  preceding :  that  this 
could  by  any  possibility  be  that  small  snug  chamber 
of  the  imagination,  which  Charles  Dickens,  Esquire, 
with  the  spirit  of  prophecy  strong  upon  him,  had 
1  1 


*  AMERICAN  NOTES 

always  foretold  would  contain  at  least  one  little 
sofa,  and  which  his  lady,  with  a  modest  yet  most 
magnificent  sense  of  its  limited  dimensions,  had 
from  the  first  opined  would  not  hold  more  than  two 
enormous  portmanteaus  in  some  odd  corner  out  of 
sight  (portmanteaus  which  could  now  no  more  be 
got  in  at  the  door,  not  to  say  stowed  away,  than  a 
giraffe  could  be  persuaded  or  forced  into  a  flower- 
pot) :  that  this  utterly  impracticable,  thoroughly 
hopeless,  and  profoundly  preposterous  box  had  the 
remotest  reference  to,  or  connection  with,  those 
chaste  and  pretty,  not  to  say  gorgeous  little  bowers, 
sketched  by  a  masterly  hand,  in  the  highly  var- 
nished lithographic  plan  hanging  up  in  the  agent's 
counting-house  in  the  city  of  London:  that  this 
room  of  state,  in  short,  could  be  anything  but  a 
pleasant  fiction  and  cheerful  jest  of  the  captain's, 
invented  and  put  in  practice  for  the  better  relish 
and  enjoyment  of  the  real  state-room  presently  to 
be  disclosed :  —  these  were  truths  which  I  really 
could  not,  for  the  moment,  bring  my  mind  at  all  to 
bear  upon  or  comprehend.  And  I  sat  down  upon  a 
kind  of  horsehair  slab,  or  perch,  of  which  there 
were  two  within ;  and  looked,  without  any  expres- 
sion of  countenance  whatever,  at  some  friends  who 
had  come  on  board  with  us,  and  who  were  crushing 
their  faces  into  all  manner  of  shapes  by  endeavor- 
ing to  squeeze  them  through  the  small  doorway. 

We  had  experienced  a  pretty  smart  shock  before 
coming  below,  which,  but  that  we  were  the  most 
sanguine  people  living,  might  have  prepared  us  for 
the  worst.  The  imaginative  artist  to  whom  I  have 
already  made  allusion  has  depicted,  in  the  same 
great  work,  a  chamber  of  almost  interminable  per- 


FOR  GENERAL   CIRCULATION.  3 

spective,  furnished,  as  Mr.  Robins  would  say,  in  a 
style  of  more  than  Eastern  splendor,  and  filled  (but 
not  inconveniently  so)  with  groups  of  ladies  and 
gentlemen,  in  the  very  highest  state  of  enjoyment 
and  vivacity.  Before  descending  into  the  bowels  of 
the  ship,  we  had  passed  from  the  deck  into  a  long 
narrow  apartment,  not  unlike  a  gigantic  hearse  with 
windows  in  the  sides;  having  at  the  upper  end  a 
melancholy  stove,  at  which  three  or  four  chilly 
stewards  were  warming  their  hands ;  while  on  either 
side,  extending  down  its  whole  dreary  length,  was  a 
long,  long  table,  over  each  of  which  a  rack,  fixed  to 
the  low  roof,  and  stuck  full  of  drinking-glasses  and 
cruet-stands,  hinted  dismally  at  rolling  seas  and 
heavy  weather.  I  had  not  at  that  time  seen  the 
ideal  presentment  of  this  chamber  which  has  since 
gratified  me  so  much,  but  I  observed  that  one  of  our 
friends,  who  had  made  the  arrangements  for  our 
voyage,  turned  pale  on  entering,  retreated  on  the 
friend  behind  him,  smote  his  forehead  involuntarily, 
and  said  below  his  breath,  "  Impossible !  it  cannot 
be  !  "  or  words  to  that  effect.  He  recovered  himself, 
however,  by  a  great ,  effort,  and,  after  a  preparatory 
cough  or  two,  cried,  with  a  ghastly  smile  which  is 
still  before  me,  looking  at  the  same  time  round  the 
walls,  "  Ha !  the  breakfast-room,  steward,  eh  ?  "  We 
all  foresaw  what  the  answer  must  be  :  we  knew  the 
agony  he  suffered.  He  had  often  spoken  of  the 
saloon  ;  had  taken  in  and  lived  upon  the  pictorial 
idea ;  had  usually  given  us  to  understand,  at  home, 
that  to  form  a  just  conception  of  it,  it  would  be 
necessary  to  multiply  the  size  and  furniture  of  an 
ordinary  drawing-room  by  seven,  and  then  fall  short 
of  the  reality.  When  the  man  in  reply  avowed 


4  AMERICAN   NOTES 

the  truth:  the  blunt,  remorseless,  naked  "truth: 
"  This  is  the  saloon,  sir "  —  he  actually  reeled 
beneath  the  blow. 

In  persons  who  were  so  soon  to  part,  and  inter- 
pose between  their  else  daily  communication  the 
formidable  barrier  of  many  thousand  miles  of 
stormy  space,  and  who  were  for  that  reason  anxious 
to  cast  no  other  cloud,  not  even  the  passing  shadow 
of  a  moment's  disappointment  or  discomfiture,  upon 
the  short  interval  of  happy  companionship  that  yet 
remained  to  them  —  in  persons  so  situated,  the 
natural  transition  from  these  first  surprises  was 
obviously  into  peals  of  hearty  laughter ;  and  I  can 
report  that  I,  for  one,  being  still  seated  upon  the 
slab  or  perch  before  mentioned,  roared  outright 
until  the  vessel  rang  again.  Thus,  in  less  than  two 
minutes  after  coming  upon  it  for  the  first  time,  we 
all  by  common  consent  agreed  that  this  state-room 
was  the  pleasantest  and  most  facetious  and  capital 
contrivance  possible,  and  that  to  have  had  it  one 
inch  larger  would  have  been  quite  a  disagreeable 
and  deplorable  state  of  things.  And  with  this ; 
and  with  showing  how  —  by  very  nearly  closing  the 
door,  and  twining  in  and  out  like  serpents,  and  by 
counting  the  little  washing  slab  as  standing-room  — 
we  could  manage  to  insinuate  four  people  into  it,  all 
at  one  time ;  and  entreating  each  other  to  observe 
how  very  airy  it  was  (in  dock),  and  how  there  was  a 
beautiful  port-hole  which  could  be  kept  open  all  day 
(weather  permitting),  and  how  there  was  quite  a 
large  bull's-eye  just  over  the  looking-glass,  which 
would  render  shaving  a  perfectly  easy  and  delight- 
ful process  (when  the  ship  didn't  roll  too  much) ; 
we  arrived,  at  last,  at  the  unanimous  conclusion  that 


FOR   GENERAL   CIRCULATION.  5 

it  was  rather  spacious  than  otherwise  :  though  I  do 
verily  believe  that,  deducting  the  two  berths,  one 
above  the  other,  than  which  nothing  smaller  for 
sleeping  in  was  ever  made  except  coffins,  it  was  no 
bigger  than  one  of  those  hackney  cabriolets  which 
have  the  door  behind,  and  shoot  their  fares  out  like 
sacks  of  coals  upon  the  pavement. 

Having  settled  this  point  to  the  perfect  satis- 
faction of  all  parties,  concerned  or  unconcerned,  we 
sat  down  round  the  fire  in  the  ladies'  cabin  — just  to 
try  the  effect.  It  was  rather  dark,  certainly  ;  but 
somebody  said,  "  Of  course  it  would  be  light  at  sea," 
a  proposition  to  which  we  all  assented ;  echoing  "  Of 
course,  of  course  ; "  though  it  would  be  exceedingly 
difficult  to  say  why  we  thought  so.  I  remember, 
too,  when  we  had  discovered  and  exhausted  another 
topic  of  consolation  in  the  circumstance  of  this 
ladies'  cabin  adjoining  our  state-room,  and  the  con- 
sequently immense  feasibility  of  sitting  there  at  all 
times  and  seasons,  and  had  fallen  into  a  momentary 
silence,  leaning  our  faces  on  our  hands  and  looking 
at  the  fire,  one  of  our  party  said,  with  the  solemn 
air  of  a  man  who  had  made  a  discovery,  "  What  a 
relish  mulled  claret  will  have  down  here  ! "  which 
appeared  to  strike  us  all  most  forcibly ;  as  though 
there  were  something  spicy  and  high-flavored  in 
cabins,  which  essentially  improved  that  composition, 
and  rendered  it  quite  incapable  of  perfection  any- 
where else. 

There  was  a  stewardess,  too,  actively  engaged  in 
producing  clean  sheets  and  table-cloths  from  the 
very  entrails  of  the  sofas,  and  from  unexpected 
lockers,  of  such  artful  mechanism  that  it  made 
one's  head  ache  to  see  them  opened  one  after 


6  AMERICAN   NOTES 

another,  and  rendered  it  quite  a  distracting  circum- 
stance to  follow  her  proceedings,  and  to  find  that 
every  nook  and  corner  and  individual  piece  of  fur- 
niture was  something  else  besides  what  it  pretended 
to  be,  and  was  a  mere  trap  and  deception  and  place 
of  secret  stowage,  whose  ostensible  purpose  was  its 
least  useful  one. 

God  bless  that  stewardess  for  her  piously  fraudu- 
lent account  of  January  voyages !  God  bless  her  for 
her  clear  recollection  of  the  companion  passage  of 
last  year,  when  nobody  was  ill,  and  everybody 
danced  from  morning  till  night,  and  it  was  "  a  run " 
of  twelve  days,  and  a  piece  of  the  purest  frolic,  and 
delight,  and  jollity !  All  happiness  be  with  her  for 
her  bright  face  and  her  pleasant  Scotch  tongue, 
which  had  sounds  of  old  Home  in  it  for  my  fellow- 
traveller  ;  and  for  her  predictions  of  fair  winds  and 
fine  weather  (all  wrong,  or  I  shouldn't  be  half  so 
fond  of  her) ;  and  for  the  ten  thousand  small  frag- 
ments of  genuine  womanly  tact  by  which,  without 
piecing  them  elaborately  together,  and  patching 
them  up  into  shape  and  form  and  case  and  pointed 
application,  she  nevertheless  did  plainly  show  that 
all  young  mothers  on  one  side  of  the  Atlantic  were 
near  and  close  at  hand  to  their  little  children  left 
upon  the  other ;  and  that  what  seemed  to  the  unini- 
tiated a  serious  journey,  was,  to  those  who  were  in 
the  secret,  a  mere  frolic,  to  be  sung  about  and 
whistled  at !  Light  be  her  heart,  and  gay  her  merry 
eyes,  for  years ! 

The  state-room  had  grown  pretty  fast ;  but  by  this 
time  it  had  expanded  into  something  quite  bulky, 
and  almost  boasted  a  bay-window  to  view  the  sea 
from.  So  we  went  upon  deck  again  in  high  spirits ; 


FOK   GENEEAL  CIRCULATION.  7 

and  there  everything  was  in  such  a  state  of  bustle 
and  active  preparation,  that  the  blood  quickened  its 
pace,  and  whirled  through  one's  veins  on  that  clear 
frosty  morning  with  involuntary  mirthfulness.  For 
every  gallant  ship  was  riding  slowly  up  and  down, 
and  every  little  boat  was  plashing  noisily  in  the 
water;  and  knots  of  people  stood  upon  the  wharf, 
gazing  with  a  kind  of  "dread  delight"  on  the  far- 
famed  fast  American  steamer ;  and  one  party  of  men 
were  "  taking  in  the  milk,"  or,  in  other  words,  get- 
ting the  cow  on  board ;  and  another  were  filling  the 
ice-houses  to  the  very  throat  with  fresh  provisions ; 
with  butcher's  meat  and  garden  stuff,  pale  sucking- 
pigs,  calves'  heads  in  scores,  beef,  veal,  and  pork, 
and  poultry  out  of  all  proportion ;  and  others  were 
coiling  ropes,  and  busy  with  oakum  yarns;  and 
others  were  lowering  heavy  packages  into  the  hold ; 
and  the  purser's  head  was  barely  visible  as  it  loomed 
in  a  state  of  exquisite  perplexity  from  the  midst  of 
a  vast  pile  of  passengers'  luggage ;  and  there  seemed 
to  be  nothing  going  on  anywhere,  or  uppermost  in 
the  mind  of  anybody,  but  preparations  for  this 
mighty  voyage.  This,  with  the  bright  cold  sun,  the 
bracing  air,  the  crisply  curling  water,  the  thin  white 
crust  of  morning  ice  upon  the  decks  which  crackled 
with  a  sharp  and  cheerful  sound  beneath  the  lightest 
tread,  was  irresistible.  And  when,  again  upon  the 
shore,  we  turned  and  saw  from  the  vessel's  mast  her 
name  signalled  in  flags  of  joyous  colors,  and  flutter- 
ing by  their  side  the  beautiful  American  banner  with 
its  stars  and  stripes,  —  the  long  three  thousand  miles 
and  more,  and,  longer  still,  the  six  whole  months 
of  absence,  so  dwindled  and  faded  that  the  ship 
had  gone  out  and  come  home  again,  and  it  was 


8  AMERICAN  NOTES 

broad  spring  already  in  the  Coburg  Dock  at  Liver- 
pool. 

I  have  not  inquired  among  my  medical  acquaint- 
ance whether  Turtle,  and  cold  Punch,  with  Hock, 
Champagne,  and  Claret,  and  all  the  slight  et  cetera 
usually  included  in  an  unlimited  order  for  a  good 
dinner  —  especially  when  it  is  left  to  the  liberal  con- 
struction of  my  faultless  friend,  Mr.  Kadley  of  the 
Adelphi  Hotel  —  are  peculiarly  calculated  to  suffer 
a  sea-change ;  or  whether  a  plain  mutton  chop,  and 
a  glass  or  two  of  sherry,  would  be  less  likely  of  con- 
version into  foreign  and  disconcerting  material.  My 
own  opinion  is,  that  whether  one  is  discreet  or  indis- 
creet in  these  particulars,  on  the  eve  of  a  sea  voyage, 
is  a  matter  of  little  consequence ;  and  that,  to  use  a 
common  phrase,  "  it  comes  to  very  much  the  same 
thing  in  the  end."  Be  this  as  it  may,  I  know  that 
the  dinner  of  that  day  was  undeniably  perfect ;  that 
it  comprehended  all  these  items,  and  a  great  many 
more ;  and  that  we  all  did  ample  justice  to  it.  And 
I  know,  too,  that,  bating  a  certain  tacit  avoidance  of 
any  allusion  to  to-morrow ;  such  as  may  be  supposed 
to  prevail  between  delicate-minded  turnkeys  and  a 
sensitive  prisoner  who  is  to  be  hanged  next  morn- 
ing ;  we  got  on  very  well,  and,  all  things  considered, 
were  merry  enough. 

When  the  morning  —  the  morning  —  came,  and 
we  met  at  breakfast,  it  was  curious  to  see  how  eager 
we  all  were  to  prevent  a  moment's  pause  in  the  con- 
versation, and  how  astoundingly  gay  everybody  was : 
the  forced  spirits  of  each  member  of  the  little  party 
having  as  much  likeness  to  his  natural  mirth,  as  hot- 
house peas  at  five  guineas  the  quart  resemble  in 
flavor  the  growth  of  the  dews,  and  air,  and  rain  of 


FOB   GENERAL   CIRCULATION.  9 

Heaven.  But  as  one  o'clock,  the  hour  for  going 
aboard,  drew  near,  this  volubility  dwindled  away  by 
little  and  little,  despite  the  most  persevering  efforts 
to  the  contrary,  until  at  last,  the  matter  being  now 
quite  desperate,  we  threw  off  all  disguise;  openly 
speculated  upon  where  we  should  be  this  time  to- 
morrow, this  time  next  day,  and  so  forth;  and  in- 
trusted a  vast  number  of  messages  to  those  who 
intended  returning  to  town  that  night,  which  were 
to  be  delivered  at  home  and  elsewhere,  without  fail, 
within  the  very  shortest  possible  space  of  time  after 
the  arrival  of  the  railway  train  at  Euston  Square. 
And  commissions  and  remembrances  do  so  crowd 
upon  one  at  such  a  time,  that  we  were  still  busied 
with  this  employment  when  we  found  ourselves 
fused,  as  it  were,  into  a  dense  conglomeration  of 
passengers  and  passengers'  friends  and  passengers' 
luggage,  all  jumbled  together  on  the  deck  of  a  small 
steamboat,  and  panting  and  snorting  off  to  the 
packet,  which  had  worked  out  of  dock  yesterday 
afternoon,  and  was  now  lying  at  her  moorings  in 
the  river. 

And  there  she  is !  all  eyes  are  turned  to  where  she 
lies,  dimly  discernible  through  the  gathering  fog  of 
the  early  winter  afternoon ;  every  finger  is  pointed 
in  the  same  direction ;  and  murmurs  of  interest  and 
admiration  —  as  "  How  beautiful  she  looks ! "  "  How 
trim  she  is  ! "  —  are  heard  on  every  side.  Even  the 
lazy  gentleman  with  his  hat  on  one  side  and  his 
hands  in  his  pockets,  who  has  dispensed  so  much 
consolation  by  inquiring  with  a  yawn  of  another 
gentleman  whether  he  is  "  going  across  "  —  as  if  it 
were  a  ferry  —  even  he  condescends  to  look  that 
way,  and  nod  his  head,  as  who  should  say,  "  No  mis- 


10  AMERICAN  NOTES 

take  about  that:"  and  not  even  the  sage  Lord  Bur- 
leigh  in  his  nod  included  half  so  much  as  this  lazy 
gentleman  of  might  who  has  made  the  passage  (as 
everybody  on  board  has  found  out  already;  it's 
impossible  to  say  how)  thirteen  times  without  a 
single  accident !  There  is  another  passenger  very 
much  wrapped  up,  who  has  been  frowned  down  by 
the  rest,  and  morally  trampled  upon  and  crushed, 
for  presuming  to  inquire  with  a  timid  interest  how 
long  it  is  since  the  poor  President  went  down.  He 
is  standing  close  to  the  lazy  gentleman,  and  says 
with  a  faint  smile  that  he  believes  She  is  a  very 
strong  Ship ;  to  which  the  lazy  gentleman,  looking 
first  in  his  questioner's  eye  and  then  very  hard  in 
the  wind's,  answers  unexpectedly  and  ominously, 
that  She  need  be.  Upon  this  the  lazy  gentleman 
instantly  falls  very  low  in  the  popular  estimation, 
and  the  passengers,  with  looks  of  defiance,  whisper 
to  each  other  that  he  is  an  ass  and  an  impostor,  and 
clearly  don't  know  anything  at  all  about  it. 

But  we  are  made  fast  alongside  the  packet,  whose 
huge  red  funnel  is  smoking  bravely,  giving  rich 
promise  of  serious  intentions.  Packing-cases,  port- 
manteaus, carpet  bags,  and  boxes  are  already  passed 
from  hand  to  hand,  and  hauled  on  board  with  breath- 
less rapidity.  The  officers,  smartly  dressed,  are  at 
the  gangway,  handing  the  passengers  up  the  side, 
and  hurrying  the  men.  In  five  minutes'  time  the 
little  steamer  is  utterly  deserted,  and  the  packet  is 
beset  and  overrun  by  its  late  freight,  who  instantly 
pervade  the  whole  ship,  and  are  to  be  met  with  by 
the  dozen  in  every  nook  and  corner :  swarming  down 
below  with  their  own  baggage,  and  stumbling  over 
other  people's ;  disposing  themselves  comfortably  in 


FOR   GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  11 

wrong  cabins,  and  creating  a  most  horrible  confusion 
by  having  to  turn  out  again ;  madly  bent  upon  open- 
ing locked  doors,  and  on  forcing  a  passage  into  all 
kinds  of  out-of-the-way  places  where  there  is  no 
thoroughfare;  sending  wild  stewards,  with  elfin 
hair,  to  and  fro  upon  the  breezy  decks  on  unintel- 
ligible errands,  impossible  of  execution;  and,  in 
short,  creating  the  most  extraordinary  and  bewil- 
dering tumult.  In  the  midst  of  all  this,  the  lazy 
gentleman,  who  seems  to  have  no  luggage  of  any 
kind  —  not  so  much  as  a  friend  even  —  lounges  up 
and  down  the  hurricane  deck,  coolly  puffing  a  cigar ; 
and,  as  this  unconcerned  demeanor  again  exalts  him 
in  the  opinion  of  those  who  have  leisure  to  observe 
his  proceedings,  every  time  he  looks  up  at  the  masts, 
or  down  at  the  decks,  or  over  the  side,  they  look 
there  too,  as  wondering  whether  he  sees  anything 
wrong  anywhere,  and  hoping  that,  in  case  he  should, 
he  will  have  the  goodness  to  mention  it. 

What  have  we  here  ?  The  captain's  boat !  and 
yonder  the  captain  himself.  Now,  by  all  our  hopes 
and  wishes,  the  very  man  he  ought  to  be  !  A  well- 
made,  tight-built,  dapper  little  fellow  ;  with  a  ruddy 
face,  which  is  a  letter  of  invitation  to  shake  him  by 
both  hands  at  once ;  and  with  a  clear  blue,  honest 
eye,  that  it  does  one  good  to  see  one's  sparkling 
image  in.  "  Ring  the  bell !  "  "  Ding,  ding,  ding  ! " 
the  very  bell  is  in  a  hurry.  "  Now  for  the  shore  — 
who's  for  the  shore  ?  "  —  "  These  gentlemen,  I  am 
sorry  to  say."  They  are  away,  and  never  said 
Good-by.  Ah!  now  they  wave  it  from  the  little 
boat.  "  Good-by  !  Good-by ! "  Three  cheers  from 
them ;  three  more  from  us  ;  three  more  from  them  ; 
and  they  are  gone. 


12  AMERICAN  NOTES. 

To  and  fro,  to  and  fro,  to  and  fro  again  a  hun- 
dred times  !  This  waiting  for  the  latest  mail-bags 
is  worse  than  all.  If  we  could  have  gone  off  in  the 
midst  of  that  last  burst,  we  should  have  started 
triumphantly :  but  to  lie  here,  two  hours  and  more, 
in  the  damp  fog,  neither  staying  at  home  nor  going 
abroad,  is  letting  one  gradually  down  into  the  very 
depths  of  dulness  and  low  spirits.  A  speck  in  the 
mist,  at  last !  That's  something.  It  is  the  boat  we 
wait  for !  That's  more  to  the  purpose.  The  cap- 
tain appears  on  the  paddle-box,  with  his  speaking 
trumpet ;  the  officers  take  their  stations  ;  all  hands 
are  on  the  alert ;  the  flagging  hopes  of  the  passen- 
gers revive ;  the  cooks  pause  in  their  savory  work, 
and  look  out  with  faces  full  of  interest.  The  boat 
comes  alongside ;  the  bags  are  dragged  in  anyhow, 
and  flung  down  for  the  moment  anywhere.  Three 
cheers  more:  and,  as  the  first  one  rings  upon  our 
ears,  the  vessel  throbs  like  a  strong  giant  that  has 
just  received  the  breath  of  life ;  the  two  great 
wheels  turn  fiercely  round  for  the  first  time ;  and 
the  noble  ship,  with  wind  and  tide  astern,  breaks 
proudly  through  the  lashed  and  foaming  water. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE   PASSAGE   OUT. 

WE  all  dined  together  that  day;  and  a  rather 
formidable  party  we  were  :  no  fewer  than  eighty-six 
strong.  The  vessel  being  pretty  deep  in  the  water, 
with  all  her  coals  on  board  and  so  many  passengers, 
and  the  weather  being  calm  and  quiet,  there  was  but 
little  motion ;  so  that  before  the  dinner  was  half 
over,  even  those  passengers  who  were  most  distrust- 
ful of  themselves  plucked  up  amazingly ;  and  those 
who  in  the  morning  had  returned  to  the  universal 
question,  "  Are  you  a  good  sailor  ?  "  a  very  decided 
negative,  now  either  parried  the  inquiry  with  the 
evasive  reply,  "Oh!  I  suppose  I'm  no  worse  than 
anybody  else  ;  "  or,  reckless  of  all  moral  obligations, 
answered  boldly,  "  Yes  :  "  and  with  some  irritation 
too,  as  though  they  would  add,  "  I  should  like  to 
know  what  you  see  in  me,  sir,  particularly,  to  justify 
suspicion ! " 

Notwithstanding  this  high  tone  of  courage  and 
confidence,  I  could  not  but  observe  that  very  few 
remained  long  over  their  wine  ;  and  that  everybody 
had  an  unusual  love  of  the  open  air ;  and  that  the 
favorite  and  most  coveted  seats  were  invariably 
those  nearest  to  the  door.  The  tea-table,  too,  was 

13 


14  AMERICAN  NOTES 

by  no  means  as  well  attended  as  the  dinner-table ; 
and  there  was  less  whist-playing  than  might  have 
been  expected.  Still,  with  the  exception  of  one 
lady,  who  had  retired  with  some  precipitation  at 
dinner-time,  immediately  after  being  assisted  to  the 
finest  cut  of  a  very  yellow  boiled  leg  of  mutton 
with  very  green  capers,  there  were  no  invalids  as 
yet;  and  walking,  and  smoking,  and  drinking  of 
brandy  and  water  (but  always  in  the  open  air),  went 
on  with  unabated  spirit  until  eleven  o'clock,  or 
thereabouts,  when  "  turning  in  "  —  no  sailor  of  seven 
hours'  experience  talks  of  going  to  bed  —  became 
the  order  of  the  night.  The  perpetual  tramp  of 
boot-heels  on  the  decks  gave  place  to  a  heavy 
silence,  and  the  whole  human  freight  was  stowed 
away  below,  excepting  a  very  few  stragglers  like 
myself,  who  were  probably,  like  me,  afraid  to  go 
there. 

To  one  unaccustomed  to  such  scenes,  this  is  a 
very  striking  time  on  shipboard.  Afterwards,  and 
when  its  novelty  had  long  worn  off,  it  never  ceased 
to  have  a  peculiar  interest  and  charm  for  me.  The 
gloom  through  which  the  great  black  mass  holds  its 
direct  and  certain  course ;  the  rushing  water,  plainly 
heard,  but  dimly  seen ;  the  broad,  white,  glistening 
track  that  follows  in  the  vessel's  wake ;  the  men  on 
the  look-out  forward,  who  would  be  scarcely  visible 
against  the  dark  sky,  but  for  their  blotting  out 
some  score  of  glistening  stars ;  the  helmsman  at  the 
wheel,  with  the  illuminated  card  before  him,  shining, 
a  speck  of  light  amidst  the  darkness,  like  some- 
thing sentient  and  of  Divine  intelligence ;  the 
melancholy  sighing  of  the  wind  through  block, 
and  rope,  and  chain;  the  gleaming  forth  of  light 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  15 

from  every  crevice,  nook,  and  tiny  piece  of  glass 
about  the  decks,  as  though  the  ship  were  filled  with 
fire  in  hiding,  ready  to  burst  through  any  outlet, 
wild  with  its  resistless  power  of  death  and  ruin. 
At  first,  too,  and  even  when  the  hour,  and  all  the 
objects  it  exalts,  have  come  to  be  familiar,  it  is 
difficult,  alone  and  thoughtful,  to  hold  them  to  their 
proper  shapes  and  forms.  They  change  with  the 
wandering  fancy ;  assume  the  semblance  of  things 
left  far  away ;  put  on  the  well -remembered  aspect 
of  favorite  places  dearly  loved ;  and  even  people 
them  with  shadows.  Streets,  houses,  rooms  ;  figures 
so  like  their  usual  occupants,  that  they  have  startled 
me  by  their  reality,  which  far  exceeded,  as  it  seemed 
to  me,  all  power  of  mine  to  conjure  up  the  absent ; 
have,  many  and  many  a  time,  at  such  an  hour, 
grown  suddenly  out  of  objects  with  whose  real 
look,  use,  and  purpose  I  was  as  well  acquainted  as 
with  my  own  two  hands. 

My  own  two  hands,  and  feet  likewise,  being  very 
cold,  however,  on  this  particular  occasion,  I  crept 
below  at  midnight.  It  was  not  exactly  comfortable 
below.  It  was  decidedly  close ;  and  it  was  impossi- 
ble to  be  unconscious  of  the  presence  of  that  extraor- 
dinary compound  of  strange  smells,  which  is  to 
be  found  nowhere  but  on  board  ship,  and  which  is 
such  a  subtle  perfume  that  it  seems  to  enter  at 
every  pore  of  the  skin,  and  whisper  of  the  hold. 
Two  passengers'  wives  (one  of  them  my  own)  lay 
already  in  silent  agonies  on  the  sofa ;  and  one  lady's 
maid  (my  lady's)  was  a  mere  bundle  on  the  floor, 
execrating  her  destiny,  and  pounding  her  curl- 
papers among  the  stray  boxes.  Everything  sloped 
the  wrong  way ;  which  in  itself  was-  an-  aggravation 


16  AMERICAN  NOTES 

scarcely  to  be  borne.  I  had  left  the  door  open,  a 
moment  before,  in  the  bosom  of  a  gentle  declivity, 
and,  when  I  turned  to  shut  it,  it  was  on  the  summit 
of  a  lofty  eminence.  Now  every  plank  and  timber 
creaked,  as  if  the  ship  were  made  of  wicker-work ; 
and  now  crackled  like  an  enormous  fire  of  the  dryest 
possible  twigs.  There  was  nothing  for  it  but  bed ; 
so  I  went  to  bed. 

It  was  pretty  nmch  the  same  for  the  next  two 
days,  with  a  tolerably  fair  wind  and  dry  weather. 
I  read  in  bed  (but  to  this  hour  I  don't  know  what) 
a  good  deal ;  and  reeled  on  deck  a  little ;  drank  cold 
brandy  and  water  with  an  unspeakable  disgust,  and 
ate  hard  biscuit  perseveringly :  not  ill,  but  going  to 
be. 

It  is  the  third  morning.  I  am  awakened  out  of 
my  sleep  by  a  dismal  shriek  from  my  wife,  who 
demands  to  know  whether  there's  any  danger.  I 
rouse  myself,  and  look  out  of  bed.  The  water-jug 
is  plunging  and  leaping  like  a  lively  dolphin;  all 
the  smaller  articles  are  afloat,  except  my  shoes, 
which  are  stranded  on  a  carpet  bag,  high  and  dry, 
like  a  couple  of  coal-barges.  Suddenly  I  see  them 
spring  into  the  air,  and  behold  the  looking-glass, 
which  is  nailed  to  the  wall,  sticking  fast  upon  the 
ceiling.  At  the  same  time  the  door  entirely  dis- 
appears, and  a  new  one  is  opened  in  the  floor. 
Then  I  begin  to  comprehend  that  the  state-room  is 
standing  on  its  head. 

Before  it  is  possible  to  make  any  arrangement  at 
all  compatible  with  this  novel  state  of  things,  the 
ship  rights.  Before  one  can  say  "  Thank  Heaven  ! " 
she  wrongs  again.  Before  one  can  cry  she  is  wrong, 
she  seems  to  have  started  forward,  and  to  be  a 


FOR   GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  17 

creature  actively  running  of  its  own  accord,  with 
broken  knees  and  failing  legs,  through  every  variety 
of  hole  and  pitfall,  and  stumbling  constantly.  Be- 
fore one  can  so  much  as  wonder,  she  takes  a  high 
leap  into  the  air.  Before  she  has  well  done  that, 
she  takes  a  deep  dive  into  the  water.  Before  she 
has  gained  the  surface,  she  throws  a  summerset. 
The  instant  she  is  on  her  legs,  she  rushes  back- 
ward. And  so  she  goes  on  staggering,  heaving, 
wrestling,  leaping,  diving,  jumping,  pitching,  throb- 
bing, rolling,  and  rocking :  and  going  through  all 
these  movements,  sometimes  by  turns,  and  some- 
times all  together :  until  one  feels  disposed  to  roar 
for  mercy. 

A  steward  passes.  "  Steward ! "  "  Sir  ?  "  "  What 
is  the  matter  ?  what  do  you  call  this  ?  "  "  Rather  a 
heavy  sea  on,  sir,  and  a  head  wind." 

A  head  wind !  Imagine  a  human  face  upon  the 
vessel's  prow,  with  fifteen  thousand  Samsons  in  one 
bent  upon  driving  her  back,  and  hitting  her  exactly 
between  the  eyes  whenever  she  attempts  to  advance 
an  inch.  Imagine  the  ship  herself,  with  every 
pulse  and  artery  of  her  huge  body  swollen  and 
bursting  under  this  maltreatment,  sworn  to  go  on 
or  die.  Imagine  the  wind  howling,  the  sea  roaring, 
the  rain  beating :  all  in  furious  array  against  her. 
Picture  the  sky  both  dark  and  wild,  and  the  clouds, 
in  fearful  sympathy  with  the  waves,  making  another 
ocean  in  the  air.  Add  to  all  this  the  clattering  on 
deck  and  down  below;  the  tread  of  hurried  feet; 
the  loud  hoarse  shouts  of  seamen ;  the  gurgling  in 
and  out  of  water  through  the  scuppers ;  with  every 
now  and  then  the  striking  of  a  heavy  sea  upon  the 
planks  above,  with  the  deep,  dead,  heavy  sound  of 
2 


18  AMERICAN  NOTES 

thunder  heard  within  a  vault ;  and  there  is  the  head 
wind  of  that  January  morning. 

I  say  nothing  of  what  may  be  called  the  domestic 
noises  of  the  ship :  such  as  the  breaking  of  glass 
and  crockery,  the  tumbling  down  of  stewards,  the 
gambols,  overhead,  of  loose  casks  and  truant  dozens 
of  bottled  porter,  and  the  very  remarkable  and  far 
from  exhilarating  sounds  raised  in  their  various 
state-rooms  by  the  seventy  passengers  who  were  too 
ill  to  get  up  to  breakfast.  I  say  nothing  of  them : 
for  although  I  lay  listening  to  this  concert  for  three 
or  four  days,  I  don't  think  I  heard  it  for  more  than 
a  quarter  of  a  minute,  at  the  expiration  of  which 
term,  I  lay  down  again,  excessively  sea-sick. 

Not  sea-sick,  be  it  understood,  in  the  ordinary 
acceptation  of  the  term :  I  wish  I  had  been :  but  in 
a  form  which  I  have  never  seen  or  heard  described, 
though  I  have  no  doubt  it  is  very  common.  I  lay 
there,  all  the  day  long,  quite  coolly  and  contentedly ; 
with  no  sense  of  weariness,  with  no  desire  to  get 
up,  or  get  better,  or  take  the  air ;  with  no  curiosity, 
or  care,  or  regret,  of  any  sort  or  degree,  saving  that 
I  think  I  can  remember,  in  this  universal  indiffer- 
ence, having  a  kind  of  lazy  joy — of  fiendish  de- 
light, if  anything  so  lethargic  can  be  dignified  with 
the  title  —  in  the  fact  of  my  wife  being  too  ill  to 
talk  to  me.  If  I  may  be  allowed  to  illustrate  my 
state  of  mind  by  such  an  example,  I  should  say 
that  I  was  exactly  in  the  condition  of  the  elder  Mr. 
Willet,  after  the  incursion  of  the  rioters  into  his 
bar  at  Chigwell.  Nothing  would  have  surprised 
me.  If,  in  the  momentary  illumination  of  any  ray 
of  intelligence  that  may  have  come  upon  me  in  the 
way  of  thoughts  of  Home,  a  goblin  postman,  with  a 


FOR   GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  19 

scarlet  coat  and  bell,  had  come  into  that  little 
kennel  before  me,  broad  awake,  in  broad  day,  and, 
apologizing  for  being  damp  through  walking  in  the 
sea,  had  handed  me  a  letter,  directed  to  myself,  in 
familiar  characters,  I  am  certain  I  should  not  have 
felt  one  atom  of  astonishment :  I  should  have  been 
perfectly  satisfied.  If  Neptune  himself  had  walked 
in,  with  a  toasted  shark  on  his  trident,  I  should 
have  looked  upon  the  event  as  one  of  the  very 
commonest  every-day  occurrences. 

Once  —  once  —  I  found  myself  on  deck.  I  don't 
know  how  I  got  there,  or  what  possessed  me  to  go 
there,  but  there  I  was ;  and  completely  dressed  too, 
with  a  huge  pea-coat  on,  and  a  pair  of  boots  such  as 
no  weak  man  in  his  senses  could  ever  have  got  into. 
I  found  myself  standing,  when  a  gleam  of  con- 
sciousness came  upon  me,  holding  on  to  something. 
I  don't  know  what.  I  think  it  was  the  boatswain : 
or  it  may  have  been  the  pump :  or  possibly  the  cow. 
I  can't  say  how  long  I  had  been  there ;  whether  a 
day  or  a  minute.  I  recollect  trying  to  think  about 
something  (about  anything  in  the  whole  wide 
world,  I  was  not  particular)  without  the  smallest 
effect.  I  could  not  even  make  out  which  was  the 
sea,  and  which  the  sky;  for  the  horizon  seemed 
drunk,  and  was  flying  wildly  about  in  all  directions. 
Even  in  that  incapable  state,  however,  I  recognized 
the  lazy  gentleman  standing  before  me :  nautically 
clad  in  a  suit  of  shaggy  blue,  with  an  oil-skin  hat. 
But  I  was  too  imbecile,  although  I  knew  it  to  be 
he,  to  separate  him  from  his  dress ;  and  tried  to  call 
him,  I  remember,  Pilot.  After  another  interval  of 
total  unconsciousness,  I  found  he  had  gone,  and 
recognized  another  figure  in  its  place.  It  seemed 


20  AMERICAN  NOTES 

to  wave  and  fluctuate  before  me  as  though  I  saw  it 
reflected  in  an  unsteady  looking-glass ;  but  I  knew 
it  for  the  captain ;  and  such  was  the  cheerful  influ- 
ence of  his  face,  that  I  tried  to  smile :  yes,  even 
then  I  tried  to  smile.  I  saw  by  his  gestures  that 
he  addressed  me ;  but  it  was  a  long  time  before  I 
could  make  out  that  he  remonstrated  against  my 
standing  up  to  my  knees  in  water  —  as  I  was ;  of 
course  I  don't  know  why.  I  tried  to  thank  him, 
but  couldn't.  I  could  only  point  to  my  boots  —  or 
wherever  I  supposed  my  boots  to  be  —  and  say  in  a 
plaintive  voice,  "Cork  soles:"  at  the  same  time 
endeavoring,  I  am  told,  to  sit  down  in  the  pool. 
Finding  that  I  was  quite  insensible,  and  for  the 
time  a  maniac,  he  humanely  conducted  me  below. 

There  I  remained  until  I  got  better:  suffering, 
whenever  I  was  recommended  to  eat  anything,  an 
amount  of  anguish  only  second  to  that  which  is 
said  to  be  endured  by  the  apparently  drowned,  in 
the  process  of  restoration  to  life.  One  gentleman 
on  board  had  a  letter  of  introduction  to  me  from  a 
mutual  friend  in  London.  He  sent  it  below  with 
his  card,  on  the  morning  of  the  head  wind ;  and  I 
was  long  troubled  with  the  idea  that  he  might  be 
up,  and  well,  and  a  hundred  times  a  day  expecting 
me  to  call  upon  him  in  the  saloon.  I  imagined  him 
one  of  those  cast-iron  images  —  I  will  not  call  them 
men  —  who  ask,  with  red  faces  and  lusty  voices, 
what  sea-sickness  means,  and  whether  it  really  is  as 
bad  as  it  is  represented  to  be.  This  was  very 
torturing  indeed ;  and  I  don't  think  I  ever  felt  such 
perfect  gratification  and  gratitude  of  heart  as  I  did 
when  I  heard  from  the  ship's  doctor  that  he  had 
been  obliged  to  put  a  large  mustard  poultice  on  this 


FOR   GENERAL   CIRCULATION.  21 

very  gentleman's  stomach.  I  date  my  recovery 
from  the  receipt  of  that  intelligence. 

It  was  materially  assisted  though,  I  have  no 
doubt,  by  a  heavy  gale  of  wind,  which  came  slowly 
up  at  sunset,  when  we  were  about  ten  days  out,  and 
raged  with  gradually  increasing  fury  until  morning, 
saving  that  it  lulled  for  an  hour  a  little  before 
midnight.  There  was  something  in  the  unnatural 
repose  of  that  hour,  and  in  the  after  gathering  of 
the  storm,  so  inconceivably  awful  and  tremendous, 
that  its  bursting  into  full  violence  was  almost  a 
relief. 

The  laboring  of  the  ship  in  the  troubled  sea  on 
this  night  I  shall  never  forget.  "  Will  it  ever  be 
worse  than  this  ? "  was  a  question  I  had  often 
heard  asked,  when  everything  was  sliding  and 
bumping  about,  and  when  it  certainly  did  seem  dif- 
ficult to  comprehend  the  possibility  of  anything 
afloat  being  more  disturbed,  without  toppling  over 
and  going  down.  But  what  the  agitation  of  a 
steam-vessel  is,  on  a  bad  winter's  night  in  the  wild 
Atlantic,  it  is  impossible  for  the  most  vivid  imagin- 
ation to  conceive.  To  say  that  she  is  flung  down 
on  her  side  in  the  waves,  with  her  masts  dipping 
into  them,  and  that,  springing  up  again,  she  rolls 
over  on  the  other  side,  until  a  heavy  sea  strikes  her 
with  the  noise  of  a  hundred  great  guns,  and  hurls 
her  back  —  that  she  stops,  and  staggers,  and  shivers, 
as  though  stunned,  and  then,  with  a  violent  throb- 
bing at  her  heart,  darts  onward  like  a  monster  goaded 
into  madness,  to  be  beaten  down,  and  battered, 
and  crushed,  and  leaped  on  by  the  angry  sea  —  that 
thunder,  lightning,  hail,  and  rain,  and  wind  are  all 
in  fierce  contention  for  the  mastery — that  every 


22  AMERICAN  NOTES 

plank  has  its  groan,  every  nail  its  shriek,  and  every 
drop  of  water  in  the  great  ocean  its  howling  voice 
—  is  nothing.  To  say  that  all  is  grand,  and  all 
appalling  and  horrible  in  the  last  degree,  is  nothing. 
Words  cannot  express  it.  Thoughts  cannot  convey 
it.  Only  a  dream  can  call  it  up  again  in  all  its 
fury,  rage,  and  passion. 

And  yet,  in  the  very  midst  of  these  terrors,  I 
was  placed  in  a  situation  so  exquisitely  ridiculous, 
that  even  then  I  had  as  strong  a  sense  of  its  absurd- 
ity as  I  have  now :  and  could  no  more  help  laughing 
than  I  can  at  any  other  comical  incident,  happening 
under  circumstances  the  most  favorable  to  its  en- 
joyment. About  midnight  we  shipped  a  sea,  which 
forced  its  way  through  the  skylights,  burst  open 
the  doors  above,  and  came  raging  and  roaring  down 
into  the  ladies'  cabin,  to  the  unspeakable  consterna- 
tion of  my  wife  and  a  little  Scotch  lady  —  who,  by 
the  way,  had  previously  sent  a  message  to  the  cap- 
tain by  the  stewardess,  requesting  him,  with  her 
compliments,  to  have  a  steel  conductor  immediately 
attached  to  the  top  of  every  mast,  and  to  the  chim- 
ney, in  order  that  the  ship  might  not  be  struck  by 
lightning.  They,  and  the  handmaid  before  men- 
tioned, being  in  such  ecstasies  of  fear  that  I  scarcely 
knew  what  to  do  with  them,  I  naturally  bethought 
myself  of  some  restorative  or  comfortable  cordial ; 
and  nothing  better  occurring  to  me,  at  the  moment, 
than  hot  brandy  and  water,  I  procured  a  tumblerful 
without  delay.  It  being  impossible  to  stand  or  sit 
without  holding  on,  they  were  all  heaped  together 
in  one  corner  of  a  long  sofa — a  fixture,  extending 
entirely  across  the  cabin  —  where  they  clung  to 
each  other  in  momentary  expectation  of  being 


FOB  GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  23 

drowned.  "When  I  approached  this  place  with  my 
specific,  and  was  about  to  administer  it,  with  many 
consolatory  expressions,  to  the  nearest  sufferer, 
what  was  my  dismay  to  see  them  all  roll  slowly 
down  to  the  other  end !  And  when  I  staggered  to 
that  end,  and  held  out  the  glass  once  more,  how 
immensely  baffled  were  my  good  intentions  by  the 
ship  giving  another  lurch,  and  their  all  rolling  back 
again !  I  suppose  I  dodged  them  up  and  down  this 
sofa  for  at  least  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  without 
reaching  them  once ;  and,  by  the  time  I  did  catch 
them,  the  brandy  and  water  was  diminished,  by 
constant  spilling,  to  a  teaspoonful.  To  complete 
the  group,  it  is  necessary  to  recognize,  in  this  dis- 
concerted dodger,  an  individual  very  pale  from  sea- 
sickness, who  had  shaved  his  beard  and  brushed  his 
hair  last  at  Liverpool :  and  whose  only  articles  of 
dress  (linen  not  included)  were  a  pair  of  dread- 
naught  trousers ;  a  blue  jacket,  formerly  admired 
upon  the  Thames  at  Richmond ;  no  stockings ;  and 
one  slipper. 

Of  the  outrageous  antics  performed  by  that  ship 
next  morning ;  which  made  bed  a  practical  joke, 
and  getting  up,  by  any  process  short  of  falling  out, 
an  impossibility ;  I  say  nothing.  But  anything  like 
the  utter  dreariness  and  desolation  that  met  my  eyes 
when  I  literally  "  tumbled  up  "  on  deck  at  noon,  I 
never  saw.  Ocean  and  sky  were  all  of  one  dull, 
heavy,  uniform  lead  color.  There  was  no  extent  of 
prospect  even  over  the  dreary  waste  that  lay  around 
us,  for  the  sea  ran  high,  and  the  horizon  encom- 
passed us  like  a  large  black  hoop.  Viewed  from  the 
air,  or  some  tall  bluff  on  shore,  it  would  have  been 
imposing  and  stupendous,  no  doubt ;  but  seen  from 


24  AMERICAN  NOTES 

the  wet  and  rolling  decks,  it  only  impressed  one  gid- 
dily and  painfully.  In  the  gale  of  last  night  the 
life-boat  had  been  crushed  by  one  blow  of  the  sea 
like  a  walnut  shell ;  and  there  it  hung  dangling  in 
the  air :  a  mere  fagot  of  crazy  boards.  The  plank- 
ing of  the  paddle-boxes  had  been  torn  sheer  away. 
The  wheels  were  exposed  and  bare ;  and  they 
whirled  and  dashed  their  spray  about  the  decks  at 
random.  Chimney  white  with  crusted  salt;  top- 
masts struck;  storm-sails  set;  rigging  all  knotted, 
tangled,  wet,  and  drooping :  a  gloomier  picture  it 
would  be  hard  to  look  upon. 

I  was  now  comfortably  established  by  courtesy  in 
the  ladies'  cabin,  where,  besides  ourselves,  there 
were  only  four  other  passengers.  First,  the  little 
Scotch  lady  before  mentioned,  on  her  way  to  join 
her  husband  at  New  York,  who  had  settled  there 
three  years  before.  Secondly  and  thirdly,  an  honest 
young  Yorkshireman,  connected  with  some  Ameri- 
can house ;  domiciled  in  that  same  city,  and  carry- 
ing thither  his  beautiful  young  wife,  to  whom  he 
had  been  married  but  a  fortnight,  and  who  was  the 
fairest  specimen  of  a  comely  English  country  girl  I 
have  ever  seen.  Fourthly,  fifthly,  and  lastly, 
another  couple :  newly  married  too,  if  one  might 
judge  from  the  endearments  they  frequently  inter- 
changed :  of  whom  I  know  no  more  than  that  they 
were  rather  a  mysterious,  runaway  kind  of  couple ; 
that  the  lady  had  great  personal  attractions  also ; 
and  that  the  gentleman  carried  more  guns  with  him 
than  Robinson  Crusoe,  wore  a  shooting  coat,  and 
had  two  great  dogs  on  board.  On  further  consider- 
ation, I  remember  that  he  tried  hot  roast  pig  and 
bottled  ale  as  a  cure  for  sea-sickness ;  and  that  he 


FOR   GENERAL   CIRCULATION.  25 

took  these  remedies  (usually  in  bed)  day  after  day, 
with  astonishing  perseverance.  I  may  add,  for  the 
information  of  the  curious,  that  they  decidedly 
failed. 

The  weather  continuing  obstinately  and  almost 
unprecedentedly  bad,  we  usually  straggled  into  this 
cabin,  more  or  less  faint  and  miserable,  about  an 
hour  before  noon,  and  lay  down  on  the  sofas  to 
recover ;  during  which  interval  the  captain  would 
look  in  to  communicate  the  state  of  the  wind,  the 
moral  certainty  of  its  changing  to-morrow  (the 
weather  is  always  going  to  improve  to-morrow,  at 
sea),  the  vessel's  rate  of  sailing,  and  so  forth. 
Observations  there  were  none  to  tell  us  of,  for  there 
was  no  sun  to  take  them  by.  But  a  description  of 
one  day  will  serve  for  all  the  rest.  Here  it  is. 

The  captain  being  gone,  we  compose  ourselves  to 
read,  if  the  place  be  light  enough ;  and  if  not,  we 
doze  and  talk  alternately.  At  one  a  bell  rings,  and 
the  stewardess  comes  down  with  a  steaming  dish  of 
baked  potatoes,  and  another  of  roasted  apples  ;  and 
plates  of  pig's  face,  cold  ham,  salt  beef ;  or  perhaps 
a  smoking  mess  of  rare  hot  collops.  We  fall  to 
upon  these  dainties;  eat  as  much  as  we  can  (we 
have  great  appetites  now)  ;  and  are  as  long  as  pos- 
sible about  it.  If  the  fire  will  burn  (it  will  some- 
times), we  are  pretty  cheerful.  If  it  won't,  we  all 
remark  to  each  other  that  it's  very  cold,  rub  our 
hands,  cover  ourselves  with  coats  and  cloaks,  and 
lie  down  again  to  doze,  talk,  and  read  (provided  as 
aforesaid),  until  dinner-time.  At  five  another  bell 
rings,  and  the  stewardess  reappears  with,  another 
dish  of  potatoes  —  boiled  this  time — and  store  of 
hot  meat  of  various  kinds  :  not  forgetting,  the  roast 


26  AMERICAN  NOTES 

pig,  to  be  taken  medicinally.  We  sit  down  at  table 
again  (rather  more  cheerfully  than  before)  ;  prolong 
the  meal  with  a  rather  mouldy  dessert  of  apples, 
grapes,  and  oranges;  and  drink  our  wine  and 
brandy  and  water.  The  bottles  and  glasses  are  still 
upon  the  table,  and  the  oranges  and  so  forth  are 
rolling  about  according  to  their  fancy  and  the  ship's 
way,  when  the  doctor  comes  down,  by  special  nightly 
invitation,  to  join  our  evening  rubber :  immediately 
on  whose  arrival  we  make  a  party  at  whist,  and,  as 
it  is  a  rough  night  and  the  cards  will  not  lie  on  the 
cloth,  we  put  the  tricks  in  our  pockets  as  we  take 
them.  At  whist  we  remain  with  exemplary  gravity 
(deducting  a  short  time  for  tea  and  toast)  until 
eleven  o'clock,  or  thereabouts ;  when  the  captain 
comes  down  again,  in  a  sou'-wester  hat  tied  under 
his  chin,  and  a  pilot  coat :  making  the  ground  wet 
where  he  stands.  By  this  time  the  card-playing  is 
over,  and  the  bottles  and  glasses  are  again  upon  the 
table ;  and  after  an  hour's  pleasant  conversation 
about  the  ship,  the  passengers,  and  things  in  gen- 
eral, the  captain  (who  never  goes  to  bed,  and  is 
never  out  of  humor)  turns  up  his  coat  collar  for  the 
deck  again ;  shakes  hands  all  round ;  and  goes  laugh- 
ing out  into  the  weather  as  merrily  as  to  a  birth- 
day party. 

As  to  daily  news,  there  is  no  dearth  of  that  com- 
modity. This  passenger  is  reported  to  have  lost 
fourteen  pounds  at  Vingt-et-un  in  the  saloon  yes- 
terday; and  that  passenger  drinks  his  bottle  of 
champagne  every  day,  and  how  he  does  it  (being 
only  a  clerk)  nobody  knows.  The  head  engineer 
has  distinctly  said  that  there  never  was  such  times 
—  meaning  weather  —  and  four  good  hands  are  ill, 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  27 

and  have  given  in,  dead  beat.  Several  berths  are 
full  of  water,  and  all  the  cabins  are  leaky.  The 
ship's  cook,  secretly  swigging  damaged  whiskey, 
has  been  found  drunk ;  and  has  been  played  upon 
by  the  fire-engine  until  quite  sober.  All  the  stew- 
ards have  fallen  downstairs  at  various  dinner-times, 
and  go  about  with  plasters  in  various  places.  The 
baker  is  ill,  and  so  is  the  pastrycook.  A  new  man, 
horribly  indisposed,  has  been  required  to  fill  the 
place  of  the  latter  officer;  and  has  been  propped 
and  jammed  up  with  empty  casks  in  a  little  house 
upon  deck,  and  commanded  to  roll  out  pie-crusts, 
which  he  protests  (being  highly  bilious)  it  is  death 
to  him  to  look  at.  News !  A  dozen  murders  on 
shore  would  lack  the  interest  of  these  slight  inci- 
dents at  sea. 

Divided  between  our  rubber  and  such  topics  as 
these,  we  were  running  (as  we  thought)  into  Halifax 
Harbor,  on  the  fifteenth  night,  with  little  wind  and 
a  bright  moon  —  indeed,  we  had  made  the  Light  at 
its  outer  entrance,  and  put  the  pilot  in  charge  — 
when  suddenly  the  ship  struck  upon  a  bank  of  mud. 
An  immediate  rush  on  deck  took  place,  of  course ; 
the  sides  were  crowded  in  an  instant ;  and  for  a  few 
minutes  we  were  in  as  lively  a  state  of  confusion  as 
the  greatest  lover  of  disorder  would  desire  to  see. 
The  passengers,  and  guns,  and  water  casks,  and  other 
heavy  matters,  being  all  huddled  together  aft,  how- 
ever, to  lighten  her  in  the  head,  she  was  soon  got 
off ;  and  after  some  driving  on  towards  an  uncom- 
fortable line  of  objects  (whose  vicinity  had  been 
announced  very  early  in  the  disaster  by  a  loud  cry 
of  "  Breakers  ahead ! ")  and  much  backing  of  pad- 
dles, and  heaving  of  the  lead  into  a  constantly  de- 


28  AMERICAN  NOTES 

creasing  depth  of  water,  we  dropped  anchor  in  a 
strange  outlandish-looking  nook  which  nobody  on 
board  could  recognize,  although  there  was  land  all 
about  us,  and  so  close  that  we  could  plainly  see  the 
waving  branches  of  the  trees. 

It  was  strange  enough,  in  the  silence  of  midnight; 
and  the  dead  stillness  that  seemed  to  be  created  by 
the  sudden  and  unexpected  stoppage  of  the  engine, 
which  had  been  clanking  and  blasting  in  our  ears 
incessantly  for  so  many  days,  to  watch  the  look  of 
blank  astonishment  expressed  in  every  face ;  begin- 
ning with  the  officers,  tracing  it  through  all  the 
passengers,  and  descending  to  the  very  stokers  and 
furnace-men,  who  emerged  from  below,  one  by  one, 
and  clustered  together  in  a  smoky  group  about  the 
hatchway  of  the  engine-room,  comparing  notes  in 
:  whispers.  After  throwing  up  a  few  rockets  and 
firing  signal  guns  in  the  hope  of  being  hailed  from 
the  land,  or  at  least  of  seeing  a  light  —  but  without 
any  other  sight  or  sound  presenting  itself  —  it  was 
determined  to  send  a  boat  on  shore.  It  was  amus- 
ing to  observe  how  very  kind  some  of  the  passen- 
gers were,  in  volunteering  to  go  ashore  in  this  same 
boat :  for  the  general  good,  of  course ;  not  by  any 
means  because  they  thought  the  ship  in  an  unsafe 
position,  or  contemplated  the  possibility  of  her  heel- 
ing over  in  case  the  tide  were  running  out.  Nor  was 
it  less  amusing  to  remark  how  desperately  unpopu- 
lar the  poor  pilot  became  in  one  short  minute.  He 
had  had  his  passage  out  from  Liverpool,  and  during 
the  whole  voyage  had  been  quite  a  notorious  charac- 
ter, as  a  teller  of  anecdotes  and  cracker  of  jokes. 
Yet  here  were  the  very  men  who  had  laughed  the 
loudest  at  his  jests,  now  flourishing  their  fists  in 


FOR   GENEEAL  CIRCULATION.  29 

his  face,  loading  him  with  imprecations,  and  defying 
him  to  his  teeth  as  a  villain ! 

The  boat  soon  shoved  off,  with  a  lantern  and 
sundry  blue  lights  on  board ;  and  in  less  than  an 
hour  returned ;  the  officer  in  command  bringing 
with  him  a  tolerably  tall  young  tree,  which  he  had 
plucked  up  by  the  roots,  to  satisfy  certain  distrust- 
ful passengers  whose  minds  misgave  them  that  they 
were  to  be  imposed  upon  and  shipwrecked,  and  who 
would  on  no  other  terms  believe  that  he  had  been 
ashore,  or  had  done  anything  but  fraudulently  row  a 
little  way  into  the  mist,  specially  to  deceive  them 
and  compass  their  deaths.  Our  captain  had  fore- 
seen from  the  first  that  we  must  be  in  a  place  called 
the  Eastern  passage ;  and  so  we  were.  It  was  about 
the  last  place  in  the  world  in  which  we  had  any 
business  or  reason  to  be,  but  a  sudden  fog,  and  some 
error  on  the  pilot's  part,  were  the  cause.  We  were 
surrounded  by  banks,  and  rocks,  and  shoals  of  all 
kinds,  but  had  happily  drifted,  it  seemed,  upon  the 
only  safe  speck  that  was  to  be  found  thereabouts. 
Eased  by  this  report,  and  by  the  assurance  that  the 
tide  was  past  the  ebb,  we  turned  in  at  three  o'clock 
in  the  morning. 

I  was  dressing  about  half-past  nine  next  day,  when 
the  noise  above  hurried  me  on  deck.  When  I  had 
left  it  over-night,  it  was  dark,  foggy,  and  damp,  and 
there  were  bleak  hills  all  round  us.  Now,  we  were 
gliding  down  a  smooth,  broad  stream,  at  the  rate  of 
eleven  miles  an  hour :  our  colors  flying  gayly ;  our 
crew  rigged  out  in  their  smartest  clothes ;  our  offi- 
cers in  uniform  again ;  the  sun  shining  as  on  a  bril- 
liant April  day  in  England ;  the  land  stretched  out 
on  either  side,  streaked  with  light  patches  of  snow  ;> 


30  AMERICAN  NOTES 

white  wooden  houses ;  people  at  their  doors ;  tele- 
graphs working ;  flags  hoisted ;  wharves  appearing ; 
ships ;  quays  crowded  with  people ;  distant  noises ; 
shouts ;  men  and  boys  running  down  steep  places 
towards  the  pier ;  all  more  bright  and  gay  and  fresh 
to  our  unused  eyes  than  words  can  paint  them.  We 
came  to  a  wharf,  paved  with  uplifted  faces ;  got 
alongside,  and  were  made  fast,  after  some  shouting 
and  straining  of  cables ;  darted,  a  score  of  us,  along 
the  gangway,  almost  as  soon  as  it  was  thrust  out  to 
meet  us,  and  before  it  had  reached  the  ship  -*—  and 
leaped  upon  the  firm  glad  earth  again ! 

I  suppose  this  Halifax  would  have  appeared  an 
Elysium,  though  it  had  been  a  curiosity  of  ugly  dul- 
ness.  But  I  carried  away  with  me  a  most  pleasant 
impression  of  the  town  and  its  inhabitants,  and  have 
preserved  it  to  this  hour.  Nor  was  it  without  regret 
that  I  came  home,  without  having  found  an  oppor- 
tunity of  returning  thither,  and  once  more  shaking 
hands  with  the  friends  I  made  that  day. 

It  happened  to  be  the  opening  of  the  Legislative 
Council  and  General  Assembly,  at  which  ceremonial 
the  forms  observed  on  the  commencement  of  a  new 
Session  of  Parliament  in  England  were  so  closely 
copied,  and  so  gravely  presented  on  a  small  scale, 
that  it  was  like  looking  at  Westminster  through 
the  wrong  end  of  a  telescope.  The  governor,  as 
her  Majesty's  representative,  delivered  what  may  be 
called  the  Speech  from  the  Throne.  He  said  what 
he  had  to  say  manfully  and  well.  The  military 
band  outside  the  building  struck  up  "  God  save  the 
Queen  "  with  great  vigor  before  his  Excellency  had 
quite  finished ;  the  people  shouted ;  the  ins  rubbed 
their  hands ;  the  outs  shook  their  heads ;  the  Gov- 


FOR   GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  31 

eminent  party  said  there  never  was  such  a  good 
speech ;  the  opposition  declared  there  never  was 
such  a  bad  one ;  the  Speaker  and  members  of  the 
House  of  Assembly  withdrew  from  the  bar  to  say  a 
great  deal  among  themselves,  and  do  a  little ;  and, 
in  short,  everything  went  on,  and  promised  to  go 
on,  just  as  it  does  at  home  upon  the  like  occasions. 

The  town  is  built  on  the  side  of  a  hill,  the  highest 
point  being  commanded  by  a  strong  fortress,  not  yet 
quite  finished.  Several  streets  of  good  breadth  and 
appearance  extend  from  its  summit  to  the  water- 
side, and  are  intersected  by  cross-streets  running 
parallel  with  the  river.  The  houses  are  chiefly  of 
wood.  The  market  is  abundantly  supplied:  and 
provisions  are  exceedingly  cheap.  The  weather 
being  unusually  mild  at  that  time  for  the  season  of 
the  year,  there  was  no  sleighing:  but  there  were 
plenty  of  those  vehicles  in  yards  and  by-places,  and 
some  of  them,  from  the  gorgeous  quality  of  their 
decorations,  might  have  "  gone  on "  without  altera- 
tion as  triumphal  cars  in  a  melodrama  at  Astley's. 
The  day  was  uncommonly  fine ;  the  air  bracing  and 
healthful ;  the  whole  aspect  of  the  town  cheerful, 
thriving,  and  industrious. 

We  lay  there  seven  hours,  to  deliver  and  exchange 
the  mails.  At  length,  having  collected  all  our  bags 
and  all  our  passengers  (including  two  or  three 
choice  spirits,  who,  having  indulged  too  freely  in 
oysters  and  champagne,  were  found  lying  insensible 
on  their  backs  in  unfrequented  streets),  the  engines 
were  again  put  in  motion,  and  we  stood  off  for 
Boston. 

Encountering  squally  weather  again  in  the  Bay 
of  Fundy,  we  tumbled  and  rolled  about  as  usual 


32  AMEEICAN  NOTES 

all  that  night  and  all  next  day.  On  the  next  after- 
noon—  that  is  to  say,  on  Saturday,  the  twenty- 
second  of  January  —  an  American  pilot-boat  came 
alongside,  and  soon  afterwards  the  Britannia  steam- 
packet  from  Liverpool,  eighteen  days  out,  was 
telegraphed  at  Boston. 

The  indescribable  interest  with  which  I  strained 
my  eyes,  as  the  first  patches  of  American  soil  peeped 
like  molehills  from  the  green  sea,  and  followed 
them,  as  they  swelled,  by  slow  and  almost  imper- 
ceptible degrees,  into  a  continuous  line  of  coast,  can 
hardly  be  exaggerated.  A  sharp  keen  wind  blew 
dead  against  us ;  a  hard  frost  prevailed  on  shore ; 
and  the  cold  was  most  severe.  Yet  the  air  was  so 
intensely  clear,  and  dry,  and  bright,  that  the  tem- 
perature was  not  only  endurable,  but  delicious. 

How  I  remained  on  deck,  staring  about  me,  until 
we  came  alongside  the  dock,  and  how,  though  I  had 
had  as  many  eyes  as  Argus,  I  should  have  had  them 
all  wide  open,  and  all  employed  on  new  objects  — 
are  topics  which  I  will  not  prolong  this  chapter  to 
discuss.  Neither  will  I  more  than  hint  at  my  for- 
eigner-like mistake,  in  supposing  that  a  party  of 
most  active  persons,  who  scrambled  on  board  at  the 
peril  of  their  lives  as  we  approached  the  wharf, 
were  newsmen,  answering  to  that  industrious  class 
at  home ;  whereas,  despite  the  leathern  wallets  of 
news  slung  about  the  necks  of  some,  and  the  broad- 
sheets in  the  hands  of  all,  they  were  Editors,  who 
boarded  ships  in  person  (as  one  gentleman  in  a 
worsted  comforter  informed  me),  "because  they  like 
the  excitement  of  it."  Suffice  it  in  this  place  to  say, 
that  one  of  these  invaders,  with  a  ready  courtesy 
for  which  I  thank  him  here  most  gratefully,  went 


FOR   GENERAL   CIRCULATION.  33 

on  before  to  order  rooms  at  the  hotel ;  and  that  when 
I  followed,  as  I  soon  did,  I  found  myself  rolling 
through  the  long  passages  with  an  involuntary 
imitation  of  the  gait  of  Mr.  T.  P.  Cooke,  in  a  new 
nautical  melodrama. 

"  Dinner,  if  you  please,"  said  I  to  the  waiter. 

"  When  ?  "  said  the  waiter. 

"As  quick  as  possible,"  said  I. 

"  Eight  away  ?  "  said  the  waiter. 

After  a  moment's  hesitation,  I  answered  "  No,"  at 
hazard. 

"  Not  right  away  ?  "  cried  the  waiter,  with  an 
amount  of  surprise  that  made  me  start. 

I  looked  at  him  doubtfully,  and  returned,  "  No ; 
I  would  rather  have  it  in  this  private  room.  I  like 
it  very  much." 

At  this  I  really  thought  the  waiter  must  have 
gone  out  of  his  mind :  as  I  believe  he  would  have 
done,  but  for  the  interposition  of  another  man,  who 
whispered  in  his  ear,  "  Directly." 

"  Well !  and  that's  a  fact ! "  said  the  waiter,  look- 
ing helplessly  at  me.  "  Right  away." 

I  saw  now  that  "Eight  away"  and  "Directly" 
were  one  and  the  same  thing.  So  I  reversed  my 
previous  answer,  and  sat  down  to  dinner  in  ten 
minutes  afterwards ;  and  a  capital  dinner  it  was. 

The  hotel  (a  very  excellent  one)  is  called  the 
Tremont  House.  It  has  more  galleries,  colonnades, 
piazzas,  and  passages  than  I  can  remember,  or  the 
reader  would  believe. 


CHAPTER  III. 

BOSTON. 

IN  all  the  public  establishments  of  America  the 
utmost  courtesy  prevails.  Most  of  our  Departments 
are  susceptible  of  considerable  improvement  in  this 
respect,  but  the  Custom  House,  above  all  others, 
would  do  well  to  take  example  from  the  United 
States,  and  render  itself  somewhat  less  odious  and 
offensive  to  foreigners.  The  servile  rapacity  of  the 
French  officials  is  sufficiently  contemptible;  but 
there  is  a  surly,  boorish  incivility  about  our  men, 
alike  disgusting  to  all  persons  who  fall  into  their 
hands,  and  discreditable  to  the  nation  that  keeps 
such  ill-conditioned  curs  snarling  about  its  gates. 

When  I  landed  in  America,  I  could  not  help  being 
strongly  impressed  with  the  contrast  their  Custom 
House  presented,  and  the  attention,  politeness,  and 
good-humor  with  which  its  officers  discharged  their 
duty. 

As  we  did  not  land  at  Boston,  in  consequence  of 
some  detention  at  the  wharf,  until  after  dark,  I 
received  my  first  impressions  of  the  city  in  walking 
down  to  the  Custom  House  on  the  morning  after  our 
arrival,  which  was  Sunday.  I  am  afraid  to  say,  by 
the  way,  how  many  offers  of  pews  and  seats  in 
34 


AMERICAN  NOTES.  35 

church  for  that  morning  were  made  to  us,  by  formal 
note  of  invitation,  before  we  had  half  finished  our 
first  dinner  in  America ;  but  if  I  may  be  allowed  to 
make  a  moderate  guess,  without  going  into  nicer 
calculation,  I  should  say  that  at  least  as  many  sit- 
tings were  proffered  us  as  would  have  accommodated 
a  score  or  two  of  grown-up  families.  The  number 
of  creeds  and  forms  of  religion  to  which  the 
pleasure  of  our  company  was  requested  was  in  very 
fair  proportion. 

Not  being  able,  in  the  absence  of  any  change  of 
clothes,  to  go  to  church  that  day,  we  were  compelled 
to  decline  these  kindnesses,  one  and  all ;  and  I  was 
reluctantly  obliged  to  forego  the  delight  of  hearing 
Dr.  Channing,  who  happened  to  preach  that  morn- 
ing for  the  first  time  in  a  very  long  interval.  I 
mention  the  name  of  this  distinguished  and  accom- 
plished man  (with  whom  I  soon  afterwards  had  the 
pleasure  of  becoming  personally  acquainted),  that  I 
may  have  the  gratification  of  recording  my  humble 
tribute  of  admiration  and  respect  for  his  high  abili- 
ties and  character;  and  for  the  bold  philanthropy 
with  which  he  has  ever  opposed  himself  to  that 
most  hideous  blot  and  foul  disgrace  —  Slavery. 

To  return  to  Boston.  When  I  got  into  the  streets 
upon  this  Sunday  morning,  the  air  was  so  clear,  the 
houses  were  so  bright  and  gay ;  the  sign-boards 
were  painted  in  such  gaudy  colors ;  the  gilded  let- 
ters were  so  very  golden ;  the  bricks  were  so  very 
red,  the  stone  was  so  very  white,  the  blinds  and 
area  railings  were  so  very  green,  the  knobs  and 
plates  upon  the  street-doors  so  marvellously  bright 
and  twinkling ;  and  all  so  slight  and  unsubstantial 
in  appearance  —  that  every  thoroughfare  in  the  city 


36  AMERICAN  NOTES 

looked  exactly  like  a  scene  in  a  pantomime.  It 
rarely  happens  in  the  business  streets  that  a  trades- 
man —  if  I  may  venture  to  call  anybody  a  tradesman, 
where  everybody  is  a  merchant  —  resides  above  his 
store ;  so  that  many  occupations  are  often  carried 
on  in  one  house,  and  the  whole  front  is  covered  with 
boards  and  inscriptions.  As  I  walked  along,  I  kept 
glancing  up  at  these  boards,  confidently  expecting 
to  see  a  few  of  them  change  into  something ;  and  I 
never  turned  a  corner  suddenly  without  looking  out 
for  the  Clown  and  Pantaloon,  who,  I  had  no  doubt, 
were  hiding  in  a  doorway  or  behind  some  pillar  close 
at  hand.  As  to  Harlequin  and  Columbine,  I  dis- 
covered immediately  that  they  lodged  (they  are 
always  looking  after  lodgings  in  a  pantomime)  at  a 
very  small  clock-maker's,  one  story  high,  near  the 
hotel;  which,  in  addition  to  various  symbols  and 
devices,  almost  covering  the  whole  front,  had  a 
great  dial  hanging  out  —  to  be  jumped  through,  of 
course. 

The  suburbs  are,  if  possible,  even  more  unsub- 
stantial-looking than  the  city.  The  white  wooden 
houses  (so  white  that  it  makes  one  wink  to  look  at 
them),  with  their  green  jalousie  blinds,  are  so  sprin- 
kled and  dropped  about  in  all  directions,  without 
seeming  to  have  any  root  at  all  in  the  ground ;  and 
the  small  churches  and  chapels  are  so  prim,  and 
bright,  and  highly  varnished  ;  that  I  almost  believed 
the  whole  affair  could  be  taken  up  piecemeal  like  a 
child's  toy,  and  crammed  into  a  little  box. 

The  city  is  a  beautiful  one,  and  cannot  fail,  I 
should  imagine,  to  impress  all  strangers  very  favor- 
ably. The  private  dwelling-houses  are,  for  the  most 
part,  large  and  elegant ;  the  shops  extremely  good ; 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  37 

and  the  public  buildings  handsome.  The  State 
House  is  built  upon  the  summit  of  a  hill,  which 
rises  gradually  at  first,  and  afterwards  by  a  steep 
ascent,  almost  from  the  water's  edge.  In  front  is  a 
green  enclosure,  called  the  Common.  The  site  is 
beautiful :  and  from  the  top  there  is  a  charming 
panoramic  view  of  the  whole  town  and  neighbor- 
hood. In  addition  to  a  variety  of  commodious  offi- 
ces, it  contains  two  handsome  chambers :  in  one  the 
House  of  Representatives  of  the  State  hold  their 
meetings :  in  the  other,  the  Senate.  Such  proceed- 
ings as  I  saw  here  were  conducted  with  perfect 
gravity  and  decorum  ;  and  were  certainly  calculated 
to  inspire  attention  and  respect. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  much  of  the  intellectual 
refinement  and  superiority  of  Boston  is  referable  to 
the  quiet  influence  of  the  University  of  Cambridge, 
which  is  within  three  or  four  miles  of  the  city. 
The  resident  professors  at  that  university  are  gen- 
tlemen of  learning  and  varied  attainments  ;  and  are, 
without  one  exception  that  I  can  call  to  mind,  men 
who  would  shed  a  grace  upon,  and  do  honor  to,  any 
society  in  the  civilized  world.  Many  of  the  resident 
gentry  in  Boston  and  its  neighborhood,  and  I  think 
I  am  not  mistaken  in  adding,  a  large  majority  of 
those  who  are  attached  to  the  liberal  professions 
there,  have  been  educated  at  this  same  school. 
Whatever  the  defects  of  American  universities  may 
be,  they  disseminate  no  prejudices  ;  rear  no  bigots ; 
dig  up  the  buried  ashes  of  no  old  superstitions ; 
never  interpose  between  the  people  and  their  im- 
provement ;  exclude  no  man  because  of  his  religious 
opinions ;  above  all,  in  their  whole  course  of  study 
and  instruction,  recognize  a  world,  and  a  broad  one 
too,  lying  beyond  the  college  walls. 


38  AMERICAN  NOTES 

It  was  a  source  of  inexpressible  pleasure  to  me  to 
observe  the  almost  imperceptible,  but  not  less  cer- 
tain effect,  wrought  by  this  institution  among  the 
small  community  of  Boston ;  and  to  note  at  every 
turn  the  humanizing  tastes  and  desires  it  has  engen- 
dered ;  the  affectionate  friendships  to  which  it  has 
given  rise;  the  amount  of  vanity  and  prejudice  it 
has  dispelled.  The  golden  calf  they  worship  at 
Boston  is  a  pygmy  compared  with  the  giant  effigies 
set  up  in  other  parts  of  that  vast  counting-house 
which  lies  beyond  the  Atlantic ;  and  the  almighty 
dollar  sinks  into  something  comparatively  insignifi- 
cant, amidst  a  whole  Pantheon  of  better  gods. 

Above  all,  I  sincerely  believe  that  the  public  in- 
stitutions and  charities  of  this  capital  of  Massachu- 
setts are  as  nearly  perfect  as  the  most  considerate 
wisdom,  benevolence,  and  humanity  can  make  them. 
I  never  in  my  life  was  more  affected  by  the  contem- 
plation of  happiness,  under  circumstances  of  priva- 
tion and  bereavement,  than  in  my  visits  to  these 
establishments. 

It  is  a  great  and  pleasant  feature  of  all  such  in- 
stitutions in  America,  that  they  are  either  supported 
by  the  State  or  assisted  by  the  State;  or  (in  the 
event  of  their  not  needing  its  helping  hand)  that 
they  act  in  concert  with  it,  and  are  emphatically 
the  people's.  I  cannot  but  think,  with  a  view  to  the 
principle  and  its  tendency  to  elevate  or  depress 
the  character  of  the  industrious  classes,  that  a  Pub- 
lic Charity  is  immeasurably  better  than  a  Private 
Foundation,  no  matter  how  munificently  the  latter 
may  be  endowed.  In  our  own  country,  where  it  has 
not,  until  within  these  later  days,  been  a  very  popular 
fashion  with  governments  to  display  any  extraordi- 


FOB   GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  39 

nary  regard  for  the  great  mass  of  the  people,  or  to 
recognize  their  existence  as  improvable  creatures, 
private  charities,  unexampled  in  the  history  of  the 
earth,  have  arisen,  to  do  an  incalculable  amount  of 
good  among  the  destitute  and  afflicted.  But  the 
government  of  the  country,  having  neither  act  nor 
part  in  them,  is  not  in  the  receipt  of  any  portion  of 
the  gratitude  they  inspire  ;  and,  offering  very  little 
shelter  or  relief  beyond  that  which  is  to  be  found  in 
the  workhouse  and  the  jail,  has  come,  not  unnatur- 
ally, to  be  looked  upon  by  the  poor  rather  as  a  stern 
master,  quick  to  correct  and  punish,  than  a  kind 
protector,  merciful  and  vigilant  in  their  hour  of 
need. 

The  maxim,  that  out  of  evil  cometh  good,  is 
strongly  illustrated  by  these  establishments  at 
home ;  as  the  records  of  the  Prerogative  Office  in 
Doctors'  Commons  can  abundantly  prove.  Some 
immensely  rich  old  gentleman  or  lady,  surrounded 
by  needy  relatives,  makes,  upon  a  low  average,  a 
will  a  week.  The  old  gentleman  or  lady,  never  very 
remarkable  in  the  best  of  times  for  good  temper,  is 
full  of  aches  and  pains  from  head  to  foot ;  full  of 
fancies  and  caprices ;  full  of  spleen,  distrust,  suspi- 
cion, and  dislike.  To  cancel  old  wills,  and  invent 
new  ones,  is  at  last  the  sole  business  of  such  a  tes- 
tator's existence ;  and  relations  and  friends  (some 
of  whom  have  been  bred  up  distinctly  to  inherit  a 
large  share  of  the  property,  and  have  been,  from 
their  cradles,  specially  disqualified  from  devoting 
themselves  to  any  useful  pursuit,  on  that  account) 
are  so  often  and  so  unexpectedly  and  summarily  cut 
off,  and  reinstated,  and  cut  off  again,  that  the  whole 
family,  down  to  the  remotest  cousin,  is  kept  in  a 


40  AMEKICAN  NOTES 

perpetual  fever.  At  length  it  becomes  plain  that 
the  old  lady  or  gentleman  has  not  long  to  live ;  and 
the  plainer  this  becomes,  the  more  clearly  the  old 
lady  or  gentleman  perceives  that  everybody  is  in  a 
conspiracy  against  their  poor  old  dying  relative; 
wherefore  the  old  lady  or  gentleman  makes  another 
last  will  —  positively  the  last  this  time  —  conceals 
the  same  in  a  china  teapot,  and  expires  next  day. 
Then  it  turns  out,  that  the  whole  of  the  real  and 
personal  estate  is  divided  between  half  a  dozen 
charities ;  and  that  the  dead  and  gone  testator  has 
in  pure  spite  helped  to  do  a  great  deal  of  good,  at 
the  cost  of  an  immense  amount  of  evil  passion  and 
misery. 

The  Perkins  Institution  and  Massachusetts  Asy- 
lum for  the  Blind,  at  Boston,  is  superintended  by  a 
body  of  trustees  who  make  an  annual  report  to  the 
corporation.  The  indigent  blind  of  that  State  are 
admitted  gratuitously.  Those  from  the  adjoining 
State  of  Connecticut,  or  from  the  States  of  Maine, 
Vermont,  or  New  Hampshire,  are  admitted  by  a 
warrant  from  the  State  to  which  they  respectively 
belong;  or,  failing  that,  must  find  security  among 
their  friends,  for  the  payment  of  about  twenty 
pounds  English  for  their  first  year's  board  and 
instruction,  and  ten  for  the  second.  "After  the 
first  year,"  say  the  trustees,  "an  account  current 
will  be  opened  with  each  pupil ;  he  will  be  charged 
with  the  actual  cost  of  his  board,  which  will  not 
exceed  two  dollars  per  week ; "  a  trifle  more  than 
eight  shillings  English;  "and  he  will  be  credited 
with  the  amount  paid  for  him  by  the  State,  or  by 
his  friends  ;  also  with  his  earnings  over  and  above 
the  cost  of  the  stock  which  he  uses ;  so  that  all  his 


FOR   GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  41 

earnings  over  one  dollar  per  week  will  be  his  own. 
By  the  third  year  it  will  be  known  whether  his 
earnings  will  more  than  pay  the  actual  cost  of  his 
board ;  if  they  should,  he  will  have  it  at  his  option 
to  remain  and  receive  his  earnings,  or  not.  Those 
who  prove  unable  to  earn  their  own  livelihood  will 
not  be  retained ;  as  it  is  not  desirable  to  convert  the 
establishment  into  an  almshouse,  or  to  retain  any 
but  working  bees  in  the  hive.  Those  who,  by 
physical  or  mental  imbecility,  are  disqualified  for 
work,  are  thereby  disqualified  from  being  members 
of  an  industrious  community;  and  they  can  be 
better  provided  for  in  establishments  fitted  for  the 
infirm." 

I  went  to  see  this  place  one  very  fine  winter 
morning :  an  Italian  sky  above,  and  the  air  so  clear 
and  bright  on  every  side,  that  even  my  eyes,  which 
are  none  of  the  best,  could  follow  the  minute  lines 
and  scraps  of  tracery  in  distant  buildings.  Like 
most  other  public  institutions  in  America  of  the 
same  class,  it  stands  a  mile  or  two  without  the  town, 
in  a  cheerful,  healthy  spot ;  and  is  an  airy,  spacious, 
handsome  edifice.  It  is  built  upon  a  height,  com- 
manding the  harbor.  When  I  paused  for  a  moment 
at  the  door,  and  marked  how  fresh  and  free  the 
whole  scene  was  —  what  sparkling  bubbles  glanced 
upon  the  waves,  and  welled  up  every  moment  to  the 
surface,  as  though  the  world  below,  like  that  above, 
were  radiant  with  the  bright  day,  and  gushing  over 
in  its  fulness  of  light :  when  I  gazed  from  sail  to 
sail  away  upon  a  ship  at  sea,  a  tiny  speck  of  shining 
white,  the  only  cloud  upon  the  still,  deep,  distant 
blue  —  and,  turning,  saw  a  blind  boy  with  his  sight- 
less face  addressed  that  way,  as  though  he  too  had 


42  AMERICAN   NOTES 

some  sense  within  him  of  the  glorious  distance :  I 
felt  a  kind  of  sorrow  that  the  place  should  be  so 
very  light,  and  a  strange  wish  that  for  his  sake  it 
were  darker.  It  was  but  momentary,  of  course, 
and  a  mere  fancy,  but  I  felt  it  keenly  for  all  that. 

The  children  were  at  their  daily  tasks  in  different 
rooms,  except  a  few  who  were  already  dismissed, 
and  were  at  play.  Here,  as  in  many  institutions, 
no  uniform  is  worn ;  and  I  was  very  glad  of  it,  for 
two  reasons.  Firstly,  because  I  am  sure  that  noth- 
ing but  senseless  custom  and  want  of  thought  would 
reconcile  us  to  the  liveries  and  badges  we  are  so 
fond  of  at  home.  Secondly,  because  the  absence 
of  these  things  presents  each  child  to  the  visitor  in 
his  or  her  own  proper  character,  with  its  individu- 
ality unimpaired ;  not  lost  in  a  dull,  ugly,  monoto- 
nous repetition  of  the  same  unmeaning  garb :  which 
is  really  an  important  consideration.  The  wisdom 
of  encouraging  a  little  harmless  pride  in  personal 
appearance  even  among  the  blind,  or  the  whimsical 
absurdity  of  considering  charity  and  leather  breeches 
inseparable  companions,  as  we  do,  requires  no  com- 
ment. 

Good  order,  cleanliness,  and  comfort  pervaded 
every  corner  of  the  building.  The  various  classes, 
who  were  gathered  round  their  teachers,  answered 
the  questions  put  to  them  with  readiness  and  intel- 
ligence, and  in  a  spirit  of  cheerful  contest  for  pre- 
cedence which  pleased  me  very  much.  Those  who 
were  at  play  were  gleesome  and  noisy  as  other  chil- 
dren. More  spiritual  and  affectionate  friendships 
appeared  to  exist  among  them  than  would  be  found 
among  other  young  persons  suffering  under  no 
deprivation ;  but  this  I  expected  and  was  prepared 


FOB  GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  43 

to  find.  It  is  a  part  of  the  great  scheme  of  Heaven's 
merciful  consideration  for  the  afflicted. 

In  a  portion  of  the  building,  set  apart  for  that 
purpose,  are  workshops  for  blind  persons  whose 
education  is  finished,  and  who  have  acquired  a  trade, 
but  who  cannot  pursue  it  in  an  ordinary  manufac- 
tory because  of  their  deprivation.  Several  people 
were  at  work  here ;  making  brushes,  mattresses, 
and  so  forth;  and  the  cheerfulness,  industry,  and 
good  order  discernible  in  every  other  part  of  the 
building,  extended  to  this  department  also. 

On  the  ringing  of  a  bell,  the  pupils  all  repaired, 
without  any  guide  or  leader,  to  a  spacious  music- 
hall,  where  they  took  their  seats  in  an  orchestra 
erected  for  that  purpose,  and  listened  with  manifest 
delight  to  a  voluntary  on  the  organ,  played  by  one 
of  themselves.  At  its  conclusion,  the  performer,  a 
boy  of  nineteen  or  twenty,  gave  place  to  a  girl ; 
and  to  her  accompaniment  they  all  sang  a  hymn, 
and  afterwards  a  sort  of  chorus.  It  was  very  sad 
to  look  upon  and  hear  them,  happy  though  their 
condition  unquestionably  was  ;  and  I  saw  that  one 
blind  girl,  who  (being  for  the  time  deprived  of  the 
use  of  her  limbs  by  illness)  sat  close  beside  me  with 
her  face  towards  them,  wept  silently  the  while  she 
listened. 

It  is  strange  to  watch  the  faces  of  the  blind,  and 
see  how  free  they  are  from  all  concealment  of  what 
is  passing  in  their  thoughts;  observing  which,  a 
man  with  eyes  may  blush  to  contemplate  the  mask 
he  wears.  Allowing  for  one  shade  of  anxious  ex- 
pression which  is  never  absent  from  their  counte- 
nances, and  the  like  of  which  we  may  readily  detect 
in  our  own  faces  if  we  try  to  feel  our  way  in  the 


44  AMERICAN  NOTES 

dark,  every  idea,  as  it  rises  within  them,  is  expressed 
with  the  lightning's  speed,  and  nature's  truth.  If 
the  company  at  a  rout,  or  drawing-room  at  court, 
could  only  for  one  time  be  as  unconscious  of  the 
eyes  upon  them  as  blind  men  and  women  are,  what 
secrets  would  come  out,  and  what  a  worker  of 
hypocrisy  this  sight,  the  loss  of  which  we  so  much 
pity,  would  appear  to  be ! 

The  thought  occurred  to  me  as  I  sat  down  in 
another  room,  before  a  girl  blind,  deaf,  and  dumb ; 
destitute  of  smell;  and  nearly  so  of  taste:  before  a 
fair  young  creature  with  every  human  faculty,  and 
hope,  and  power  of  goodness  and  affection,  enclosed 
within  her  delicate  frame,  and  but  one  outward 
sense  —  the  sense  of  touch.  There  she  was,  before 
me:  built  up,  as  it  were,  in  a  marble  cell,  imper- 
vious to  any  ray  of  light,  or  particle  of  sound ;  with 
her  poor  white  hand  peeping  through  a  chink  in  the 
wall,  beckoning  to  some  good  man  for  help,  that  an 
Immortal  soul  might  be  awakened. 

Long  before  I  looked  upon  her,  the  help  had  come; 
Her  face  was  radiant  with  intelligence  and  pleasure. 
Her  hair,  braided  by  her  own  hands,  was  bound 
about  a  head  whose  intellectual  capacity  and  devel- 
opment were  beautifully  expressed  in  its  graceful 
outline,  and  its  broad  open  brow;  her  dress, 
arranged  by  herself,  was  a  pattern  of  neatness  and 
simplicity ;  the  work  she  had  knitted  lay  beside 
her ;  her  writing-book  was  on  the  desk  she  leaned 
upon.  From  the  mournful  ruin  of  such  bereave- 
ment, there  had  slowly  risen  up  this  gentle,  tender, 
guileless,  grateful-hearted  being. 

Like  other  inmates  of  that  house,  she  had  a  green 
ribbon  bound  round  her  eyelids.  A  doll  she  had 


FOB  GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  45 

dressed  lay  near  upon  the  ground*  I  took  it  up, 
and  saw  that  she  had  made  a  green  fillet  such  as  she 
wore  herself,  and  fastened  it  about  its  mimic  eyes. 

She  was  seated  in  a  little  enclosure,  made  by 
school  desks  and  forms,  writing  her  daily  journal. 
But,  soon  finishing  this  pursuit,  she  engaged  in  an 
animated  communication  with  a  teacher  who  sat 
beside  her.  This  was  a  favorite  mistress  with  the 
poor  pupil.  If  she  could  see  the  face  of  her  fair 
instructress,  she  would  not  love  her  less,  I  am  sure. 

I  have  extracted  a  few  disjointed  fragments  of 
her  history,  from  an  account  written  by  that  one 
man  who  has  made  her  what  she  is.  It  is  a  very 
beautiful  and  touching  narrative ;  and  I  wish  I 
could  present  it  entire. 

Her  name  is  Laura  Bridgman.  "  She  was  born  in 
Hanover,  New  Hampshire,  on  the  twenty-first  of 
December,  1829.  She  is  described  as  having  been 
a  very  sprightly  and  pretty  infant,  with  bright  blue 
eyes.  She  was,  however,  so  puny  and  feeble  until 
she  was  a  year  and  a  half  old,  that  her  parents 
hardly  hoped  to  rear  her.  She  was  subject  to  severe 
fits,  which  seemed  to  rack  her  frame  almost  beyond 
her  power  of  endurance  :  and  life  was  held  by  the 
feeblest  tenure:  but,  when  a  year  and  a  half  old, 
she  seemed  to  rally ;  the  dangerous  symptoms  sub- 
sided ;  and,  at  twenty  months  old,  she  was  perfectly 
well. 

"Then  her  mental  powers,  hitherto  stinted  in 
their  growth,  rapidly  developed  themselves ;  and 
during  the  four  months  of  health  which  she  enjoyed, 
she  appears  (making  due  allowance  for  a  fond 
mother's  account)  to  have  displayed  a  considerable 
degree  of  intelligence.  ... 


46  AMERICAN  NOTES 

"  But  suddenly  she  sickened  again ;  her  disease 
raged  with  great  violence  during  five  weeks,  when 
her  eyes  and  ears  were  inflamed,  suppurated,  and 
their  contents  were  discharged.  But  though  sight 
and  hearing  were  gone  forever,  the  poor  child's 
sufferings  were  not  ended.  The  fever  raged  during 
seven  weeks ;  for  five  months  she  was  kept  in  bed 
in  a  darkened  room ;  it  was  a  year  before  she  could 
walk  unsupported,  and  two  years  before  she  could  sit 
up  all  day.  It  was  now  observed  that  her  sense  of 
smell  was  almost  entirely  destroyed ;  and,  conse- 
quently, that  her  taste  was  much  blunted. 

"  It  was  not  until  four  years  of  age  that  the  poor 
child's  bodily  health  seemed  restored,  and  she  was 
able  to  enter  upon  her  apprenticeship  of  life  and 
the  world. 

"  But  what  a  situation  was  hers !  The  darkness 
and  the  silence  of  the  tomb  were  around  her :  no 
mother's  smile  called  forth  her  answering  smile,  no 
father's  voice  taught  her  to  imitate  his  sounds :  — 
they,  brothers  and  sisters,  were  but  forms  of  matter 
which  resisted  her  touch,  but  which  differed  not 
from  the  furniture  of  the  house,  save  in  warmth, 
and  in  the  power  of  locomotion ;  and  not  even  in 
these  respects  from  the  dog  and  the  cat. 

"But  the  immortal  spirit  which  had  been  im- 
planted within  her  could  not  die,  nor  be  maimed 
nor  mutilated ;  and  though  most  of  its  avenues  of 
communication  with  the  world  were  cut  off,  it  began 
to  manifest  itself  through  the  others.  As  soon  as 
she  could  walk,  she  began  to  explore  the  room,  and 
then  the  house  ;  she  became  familiar  with  the  form, 
density,  weight,  and  heat  of  every  article  she  could 
lay  her  hands  upon.  She  followed  her  mother,  and 


FOR  GENERAL   CIRCULATION.  47 

felt  her  hands  and  arms,  as  she  was  occupied  about 
the  house ;  and  her  disposition  to  imitate,  led  her  to 
repeat  everything  herself.  She  even  learned  to  sew 
a  little,  and  to  knit." 

The  reader  will  scarcely  need  to  be  told,  however, 
that  the  opportunities  of  communicating  with  her 
were  very,  very  limited ;  and  that  the  moral  effects 
of  her  wretched  state  soon  began  to  appear.  Those 
who  cannot  be  enlightened  by  reason  can  only  be 
controlled  by  force ;  and  this,  coupled  with  her  great 
privations,  must  soon  have  reduced  her  to  a  worse 
condition  than  that  of  the  beasts  that  perish,  but 
for  timely  and  unhoped-for  aid. 

"  At  this  time  I  was  so  fortunate  as  to  hear  of  the 
child,  and  immediately  hastened  to  Hanover  to  see 
her.  I  found  her  with  a  well-formed  figure;  a 
strongly  marked,  nervous-sanguine  temperament ;  a 
large  and  beautifully  shaped  head ;  and  the  whole 
system  in  healthy  action.  The  parents  were  easily 
induced  to  consent  to  her  coming  to  Boston,  and  on 
the  4th  of  October,  1837,  they  brought  her  to  the 
Institution. 

"  For  a  while  she  was  much  bewildered ;  and  after 
waiting  about  two  weeks,  until  she  became  acquainted 
with  her  new  locality,  and  somewhat  familiar  with 
the  inmates,  the  attempt  was  made  to  give  her 
knowledge  of  arbitrary  signs,  by  which  she  could 
interchange  thoughts  with  others. 

"  There  was  one  of  two  ways  to  be  adopted :  either 
to  go  on  to  build  up  a  language  of  signs  on  the 
basis  of  the  natural  language  which  she  had  already 
commenced  herself,  or  to  teach  her  the  purely  arbi- 
trary language  in  common  use :  that  is,  to  give  her 
a  sign  for  every  individual  thing,  or  to  give  her  a 


48  AMEEICAN  NOTES      ;-r 

knowledge  of  letters  by  combination  of  which  she 
might  express  her  idea  of  the  existence,  and  the 
mode  and  condition  of  existence,  of  any  thing.  The 
former  would  have  been  easy,  but  very  ineffectual ; 
the  latter  seemed  very  difficult,  but,  if  accomplished, 
very  effectual.  I  determined,  therefore,  to  try  the 
latter. 

"  The  first  experiments  were  made  by  taking 
articles  in  common  use,  such  as  knives,  forks,  spoons, 
keys,  etc.,  and  pasting  upon  them  labels  with  their 
names  printed  in  raised  letters.  These  she  felt  very 
carefully,  and  soon,  of  course,  distinguished  that 
the  crooked  lines  spoon  differed  as  much  from  the 
crooked  lines  key,  as  the  spoon  differed  from  the 
key  in  form. 

"Then  small  detached  labels,  with  the  same  words 
printed  upon  them,  were  put  into  her  hands;  and 
she  soon  observed  that  they  were  similar  to  the 
ones  pasted  on  the  articles.  She  showed  her  per- 
ception of  this  similarity  by  laying  the  label  key 
upon  the  key,  and  the  label  spoon  upon  the  spoon. 
She  was  encouraged  here  by  the  natural  sign  of 
approbation,  patting  on  the  head.  .. 

"The  same  process  was  then  repeated  with  all 
the  articles  which  she  could  handle ;  and  she  very 
easily  learned  to  place  the  proper  labels  upon  them. 
It  was  evident,  however,  that  the  only  intellectual 
exercise  was  that  of  imitation  and  memory.  She 
recollected  that  the  label  book  was  placed  upon  a 
book,  and  she  repeated  the  process  first  from  imita- 
tion, next  from  memory,  with  only  the  motive  of 
love  of  approbation,  but  apparently  without  the 
intellectual  perception  of  any  relation  between  the 
things. 


FOB  GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  49 

"After  a  while,  instead  of  labels,  the  individual 
letters  were  given  to  her  on  detached  bits  of  paper: 
they  were  arranged  side  by  side  so  as  to  spell  book, 
key,  etc. ;  then  they  were  mixed  up  in  a  heap,  and 
a  sign  was  made  for  her  to  arrange  them  herself,  so 
as  to  express  the  words  book,  key,  etc. ;  and  she 
did  so. 

"  Hitherto  the  process  had  been  mechanical,  and 
the  success  about  as  great  as  teaching  a  very  know- 
ing dog  a  variety  of  tricks.  The  poor  child  had  sat 
in  mute  amazement,  and  patiently  imitated  every- 
thing her  teacher  did ;  but  now  the  truth  began  to 
flash  upon  her :  her  intellect  began  to  work :  she 
perceived  that  here  was  a  way  by  which  she  could 
herself  make  up  a  sign  of  anything  that  was  in  her 
own  mind,  and  show  it  to  another  mind;  and  at 
once  her  countenance  lighted  up  with  a  human 
expression:  it  was  no  longer  a  dog,  or  parrot:  it 
was  an  immortal  spirit,  eagerly  seizing  upon  a,  new 
link  of  union  with  other  spirits  !  I  could  almost  fix 
upon  the  moment  when  this  truth  dawned  upon  her 
mind,  and  spread  its  light  to  her  countenance  ;  I  saw 
that  the  great  obstacle  was  overcome;  and  that 
henceforward  nothing  but  patient  and  persevering, 
but  plain  and  straightforward,  efforts  were  to  be 
used. 

"The  result,  thus  far,  is  quickly  related,  and 
easily  conceived ;  but  not  so  was  the  process ;  for 
many  weeks  of  apparently  unprofitable  labor  were 
passed  before  it  was  effected. 

"  When  it  was  said  above,  that  a  sign  was  made, 
it  was  intended  to  say  that  the  action  was  performed 
by  her  teacher,  she  feeling  his  hands,  and  then  imi- 
tating the  motion. 
4 


50  AMEKICAN  NOTES 

"The  next  step  was  to  procure  a  set  of  metal 
types,  with  the  different  letters  of  the  alphabet  cast 
upon  their  ends  ;  also  a  board,  in  which  were  square 
holes,  into  which  holes  she  could  set  the  types ;  so 
that  the  letters  on  their  ends  could  alone  be  felt 
above  the  surface. 

"Then,  on  any  article  being  handed  to  her, — for 
instance,  a  pencil,  or  a  watch,  —  she  would  select 
the  component  letters,  and  arrange  them  on  her 
board,  and  read  them  with  apparent  pleasure.  , 

"  She  was  exercised  for  several  weeks  in  this  way, 
until  her  vocabulary  became  extensive ;  and  then 
the  important  step  was  taken  of  teaching  her  how 
to  represent  the  different  letters  by  the  position  of 
her  fingers,  instead  of  the  cumbrous  apparatus  of 
the  board  and  types.  She  accomplished  this  speed- 
ily and  easily,  for  her  intellect  had  begun  to  work 
in  aid  of  her  teacher,  and  her  progress  was  rapid. 

"  This  was  the  period,  about  three  months  after 
she  had  commenced,  that  the  first  report  of  her 
case  was  made,  in  which  it  is  stated  that  '  she  has 
just  learned  the  manual  alphabet,  as  used  by  the 
deaf  mutes,  and  it  is  a  subject  of  delight  and 
wonder  to  see  how  rapidly,  correctly,  and  eagerly 
she  goes  on  with  her  labors.  Her  teacher  gives  her 
a  new  object,  —  for  instance,  a  pencil,  —  first  lets 
her  examine  it,  and  get  an  idea  of  its  use,  then 
teaches  her  how  to  spell  it  by  making  the  signs  for 
the  letters  with  her  own  fingers :  the  child  grasps 
her  hand,  and  feels  her  fingers,  as  the  different  let- 
ters are  formed ;  she  turns  her  head  a  little  on  one 
side,  like  a  person  listening  closely ;  her  lips  are 
apart, ;  she  seems  scarcely  to  breathe ;  and  her 
countenance,  at  first  anxious,  gradually  changes  to 


FOR  GENERAL   CIRCULATION.  51 

a  smile,  as  she  comprehends  the  lesson.  She  then 
holds  up  her  tiny  fingers,  and  spells  the  word  in  the 
manual  alphabet;  next,  she  takes  her  types  and 
arranges  her  letters;  and  last,  to  make  sure  that 
she  is  right,  she  takes  the  whole  of  the  types  com- 
posing the  word,  and  places  them  upon  or  in  con- 
tact with  the  pencil,  or  whatever  the  object  may  be.' 

"The  whole  of  the  succeeding  year  was  passed 
in  gratifying  her  eager  inquiries  for  the  names  of 
every  object  which  she  could  possibly  handle ;  in 
exercising  her  in  the  use  of  the  manual  alphabet ; 
in  extending  in  every  possible  way  her  knowledge 
of  the  physical  relations  of  things ;  and  in  proper 
care  of  her  health. 

"  At  the  end  of  the  year  a  report  of  her  case  was 
made,  from  which  the  following  is  an  extract. 

" '  It  has  been  ascertained,  beyond  the  possibility 
of  doubt,  that  she  cannot  see  a  ray  of  light,  cannot 
hear  the  least  sound,  and  never  exercises  her  sense 
of  smell,  if  she  have  any.  Thus  her  mind  dwells 
in  darkness  and  stillness,  as  profound  as  that  of  a 
closed  tomb  at  midnight.  Of  beautiful  sights,  and 
sweet  sounds,  and  pleasant  odors  she  has  no  concep- 
tion ;  nevertheless,  she  seems  as  happy  and  playful 
as  a  bird  or  a  lamb;  and  the  employment  of  her 
intellectual  faculties,  or  the  acquirement  of  a  new 
idea,  gives  her  a  vivid  pleasure,  which  is  plainly 
marked  in  her  expressive  features.  She  never 
seems  to  repine,  but  has  all  the  buoyancy  and 
gayety  of  childhood.  She  is  fond  of  fun  and  frolic, 
and,  when  playing  with  the  rest  of  the  children, 
her  shrill  laugh  sounds  loudest  of  the  group. 

" '  When  left  alone,  she  seems  very  happy  if  she 
have  her  knitting  or  sewing,  and  will  busy  herself 


52  AMERICAN  NOTES     >-VT 

for  hours  :  if  she  have  no  occupation,  she  evidently 
amuses  herself  by  imaginary  dialogues,  or  by  recall- 
ing past  impressions ;  she  counts  with  her  fingers, 
or  spells  out  names  of  things  which  she  has  recently 
learned,  in  the  manual  alphabet  of  the  deaf  mutes. 
In  this  lonely  self-communion  she  seems  to  reason, 
reflect,  and  argue :  if  she  spell  a  word  wrong  with 
the  fingers  of  her  right  hand,  she  instantly  strikes 
it  with  her  left,  as  her  teacher  does,  in  sign  of  dis- 
approbation ;  if  right,  then  she  pats  herself  upon 
the  head  and  looks  pleased.  She  sometimes  pur- 
posely spells  a  word  wrong  with  the  left  hand, 
looks  roguish  for  a  moment  and  laughs,  and  then 
with  the  right  hand  strikes  the  left,  as  if  to  cor- 
rect it. 

" '  During  the  year  she  has  attained  great  dexter- 
ity in  the  use  of  the  manual  alphabet  of  the  deaf 
mutes ;  and  she  spells  out  the  words  and  sentences 
which  she  knows,  so  fast  and  so  deftly,  that  only 
those  accustomed  to  this  language  can  follow  with 
the  eye  the  rapid  motions  of  her  fingers. 

"'But  wonderful  as  is  the  rapidity  with  which 
she  writes  her  thoughts  upon  the  air,  still  more  so 
is  the  ease  and  accuracy  with  which  she  reads  the 
words  thus  written  by  another;  grasping  their 
hands  in  hers,  and  following  every  movement  of 
their  fingers,  as  letter  after  letter  conveys  their 
meaning  to  her  mind.  It  is  in  this  way  that  she 
converses  with  her  blind  playmates,  and  nothing 
can  more  forcibly  show  the  power  of  mind  in  for- 
cing matter  to  its  purpose  than  a  meeting  between 
them.  For  if  great  talent  and  skill  are  necessary 
for  two  pantomimes  to  paint  their  thoughts  and 
feelings  by  the  movements  of  the  body,  and  the 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  53 

expression  of  the  countenance,  how  much  greater 
the  difficulty  when  darkness  shrouds  them  both, 
and  the  one  can  hear  no  sound ! 

"  f  When  Laura  is  walking  through  a  passage-way, 
with  her  hands  spread  before  her,  she  knows  in- 
stantly every  one  she  meets,  and  passes  them  with 
a  sign  of  recognition :  but  if  it  be  a  girl  of  her  own 
age,  and  especially  if  it  be  one  of  her  favorites, 
there  is  instantly  a  bright  smile  of  recognition,  and 
a  twining  of  arms,  a  grasping  of  hands,  and  a  swift 
telegraphing  upon  the  tiny  fingers;  whose  rapid 
evolutions  convey  the  thoughts  and  feelings  from 
the  outposts  of  one  mind  to  those  of  the  other. 
There  are  questions  and  answers,  exchanges  of  joy 
or  sorrow,  there  are  kissings  and  partings,  just  as 
between  little  children  with  all  their  senses.' 

"  During  this  year,  and  six  months  after  she  had 
left  home,  her  mother  came  to  visit  her,  and  the 
scene  of  their  meeting  was  an  interesting  one. 

"  The  mother  stood  some  time,  gazing  with  over- 
flowing eyes  upon  her  unfortunate  child,  who,  all 
unconscious  of  her  presence,  was  playing  about  the 
room.  Presently  Laura  ran  against  her,  and  at 
once  began  feeling  her  hands,  examining  her  dress, 
and  trying  to  find  out  if  she  knew  her;  but  not 
succeeding  in  this,  she  turned  away  as  from  a 
stranger,  and  the  poor  woman  could  not  Conceal  the 
pang  she  felt  at  finding  that  her  beloved  child  did 
not  know  her. 

"  She  then  gave  Laura  a  string  of  beads  which 
she  used  to  wear  at  home,  which  were  recognized 
by  the  child  at  once,  who,  with  much  joy,  put  them 
around  her  neck,  and  sought  me  eagerly  to  say  she 
understood  the  string  was  from  her  home. 


54  AMERICAN  NOTES 

"The  mother  now  tried  to  caress  her,  but  poor 
Laura  repelled  her,  preferring  to  be  with  her  ac- 
quaintances. 

"Another  article  from  home  was  now  given  her, 
and  she  began  to  look  much  interested ;  she  exam- 
ined the  stranger  much  closer,  and  gave  me  to 
understand  that  she  knew  she  came  from  Hanover ; 
she  even  endured  her  caresses,  but  would  leave  her 
with  indifference  at  the  slightest  signal.  The  dis- 
tress of  the  mother  was  now  painful  to  behold ;  for, 
although  she  had  feared  that  she  should  not  be 
recognized,  the  painful  reality  of  being  treated 
with  cold  indifference  by  a  darling  child  was  too 
much  for  woman's  nature  to  bear. 

"  After  a  while,  on  the  mother  taking  hold  of  her 
again,  a  vague  idea  seemed  to  flit  across  Laura's 
mind  that  this  could  not  be  a  stranger ;  she  there- 
fore felt  her  hands  very  eagerly,  while  her  counte- 
nance assumed  an  expression  of  intense  interest; 
she  became  very  pale,  and  then  suddenly  red  ;  hope 
seemed  struggling  with  doubt  and  anxiety,  and 
never  were  contending  emotions  more  strongly 
painted  upon  the  human  face :  at  this  moment  of 
painful  uncertainty,  the  mother  drew  her  close  to 
her  side,  and  kissed  her  fondly,  when  at  once  the 
truth  flashed  upon  the  child,  and  all  mistrust  and 
anxiety  disappeared  from  her  face,  as  with  an  ex- 
pression of  exceeding  joy  she  eagerly  nestled  to 
the  bosom  of  her  parent,  and  yielded  herself  to  her 
fond  embraces. 

"After  this  the  beads  were  all  unheeded;  the 
playthings  which  were  offered  to  her  were  utterly 
disregarded;  her  playmates,  for  whom  but  a  mo- 
ment before  she  gladly  left  the  stranger,  now 


FOR   GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  55 

vainly  strove  to  pull  her  from  her  mother;  and 
though  she  yielded  her  usual  instantaneous  obedi- 
ence to  my  signal  to  follow  me,  it  was  evidently 
with  painful  reluctance.  She  clung  close  to  me,  as 
if  bewildered  and  fearful ;  and  when,  after  a  mo- 
ment, I  took  her  to  her  mother,  she  sprang  to  her 
arms,  and  clung  to  her  with  eager  joy. 

"The  subsequent  parting  between  them  showed 
alike  the  affection,  the  intelligence,  and  the  resolu- 
tion of  the  child. 

"Laura  accompanied  her  mother  to  the  door, 
clinging  close  to  her  all  the  way,  until  they  arrived 
at  the  threshold,  where  she  paused,  and  felt  around 
to  ascertain  who  was  near  her.  Perceiving  the 
matron,  of  whom  she  is  very  fond,  she  grasped  her 
with  one  hand,  holding  on  convulsively  to  her  mother 
with  the  other ;  and  thus  she  stood  for  a  moment : 
then  she  dropped  her  mother's  hand ;  put  her  hand- 
kerchief to  her  eyes ;  and,  turning  round,  clung 
sobbing  to  the  matron  ;  while  her  mother  departed, 
with  emotions  as  deep  as  those  of  her  child. 

"It  has  been  remarked,  in  former  reports,  that 
she  can  distinguish  different  degrees  of  intellect  in 
others,  and  that  she  soon  regarded  almost  with  con- 
tempt a  new-comer,  when,  after  a  few  days,  she  dis- 
covered her  weakness  of  mind.  This  unamiable 
part  of  her  character  has  been  more  strongly  devel- 
oped during  the  past  year. 

"  She  chooses  for  her  friends  and  companions 
those  children  who  are  intelligent,  and  can  talk  best 
with  her ;  and  she  evidently  dislikes  to  be  with 
those  who  are  deficient  in  intellect,  unless,  indeed, 
she  can  make  them  serve  her  purposes,  which  she  is 


56  AMERICAN  NOTES 

evidently  inclined  to  do.  She  takes  advantage  of 
them,  and  makes  them  wait  upon  her,  in  a  manner 
that  she  knows  she  could  not  exact  of  others ;  and 
in  various  ways  she  shows  her  Saxon  blood. 

"She  is  fond  of  having  other  children  noticed 
and  caressed  by  the  teachers,  and  those  whom  she 
respects ;  but  this  must  not  be  carried  too  far,  or 
she  becomes  jealous.  She  wants  to  have  her  share, 
which,  if  not  the  lion's,  is  the  greater  part ;  and  if 
she  does  not  get  it,  she  says,  '  My  mother  will  love 
me.' 

"  Her  tendency  to  imitation  is  so  strong  that  it 
leads  her  to  actions  which  must  be  entirely  incom- 
prehensible to  her,  and  which  can  give  her  no  other 
pleasure  than  the  gratification  of  an  internal  fac- 
ulty. She  has  been  known  to  sit  for  half  an  hour, 
holding  a  book  before  her  sightless  eyes,  and  mov- 
ing her  lips,  as  she  has  observed  seeing  people  do 
when  reading. 

"  She  one  day  pretended  that  her  doll  was  sick ; 
and  went  through  all  the  motions  of  tending  it,  and 
giving  it  medicine ;  she  then  put  it  carefully  to  bed, 
and  placed  a  bottle  of  hot  water  to  its  feet,  laugh- 
ing all  the  time  most  heartily.  When  I  came 
home,  she  insisted  upon  my  going  to  see  it,  and  feel 
its  pulse ;  and  when  I  told  her  to  put  a  blister  on 
its  back,  she  seemed  to  enjoy  it  amazingly,  and 
almost  screamed  with  delight. 

"  Her  social  feelings,  and  her  affections,  are  very 
strong ;  and  when  she  is  sitting  at  work,  or  at  her 
studies,  by  the  side  of  one  of  her  little  friends,  she 
will  break  off  from  her  task  every  few  moments,  to 
hug  and  kiss  them  with  an  earnestness  and  warmth 
that  is  touching  to  behold. 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  57 

"When  left  alone,  she  occupies,  and  apparently 
amuses  herself,  and  seems  quite  contented ;  and  so 
strong  seems  to  be  the  natural  tendency  of  thought 
to  put  on  the  garb  of  language,  that  she  often 
soliloquizes  in  the  finger  language,  slow  and  tedious 
as  it  is.  But  it  is  only  when  alone  that  she  is 
quiet :  for  if  she  becomes  sensible  of  the  presence 
of  any  one  near  her,  she  is  restless  until  she  can  sit 
close  beside  them,  hold  their  hand,  and  converse 
with  them  by  signs. 

"In  her  intellectual  character  it  is  pleasing  to 
observe  an  insatiable  thirst  for  knowledge,  and- a 
quick  perception  of  the  relations  of  things.  In  her 
moral  character,  it  is  beautiful  to  behold  her  con- 
tinual gladness,  her  keen  enjoyment  of  existence, 
her  expansive  love,  her  unhesitating  confidence,  her 
sympathy  with  suffering,  her  conscientiousness, 
truthfulness,  and  hopefulness." 

Such  are  a  few  fragments  from  the  simple  but 
most  interesting  and  instructive  history  of  Laura 
Bridgman.  The  name  of  her  great  benefactor  and 
friend,  who  writes  it,  is  Doctor  Howe.  There  are 
not  many  persons,  I  hope  and  believe,  who,  after 
reading  these  passages,  can  ever  hear  that  name  with 
indifference. 

A  further  account  has  been  published  by  Doctor 
Howe,  since  the  report  from  which  I  have  just 
quoted.  It  describes  her  rapid  mental  growth  and 
improvement  during  twelve  months  more,  and  brings 
her  little  history  down  to  the  end  of  last  year. 
It  is  very  remarkable  that  as  we  dream  in  words, 
and  carry  on  imaginary  conversations,  in  which  we 
speak  both  for  ourselves  and  for  the  shadows  who 
appear  to  us  in  those  visions  of  the  night,  so  she, 


58  AMERICAN   NOTES 

having  no  words,  uses  her  finger  alphabet  in  her 
sleep.  And  it  has  been  ascertained  that  when  her 
slumber  is  broken,  and  is  much  disturbed  by  dreams, 
she  expresses  her  thoughts  in  an  irregular  and  con- 
fused manner  on  her  fingers :  just  as  we  should 
murmur  and  mutter  them  indistinctly  in  the  like 
circumstances. 

I  turned  over  the  leaves  of  her  Diary,  and  found 
it  written  in  a  fair,  legible,  square  hand,  and  ex- 
pressed in  terms  which  were  quite  intelligible  with- 
out any  explanation.  On  my  saying  that  I  should 
like  to  see  her  write  again,  the  teacher  who  sat 
beside  her  bade  her,  in  their  language,  sign  her 
name  upon  a  slip  of  paper  twice  or  thrice.  In 
doing  so,  I  observed  that  she  kept  her  left  hand 
always  touching  and  following  up  her  right,  in 
which,  of  course,  she  held  the  pen.  No  line  was 
indicated  by  any  contrivance,  but  she  wrote  straight 
and  freely. 

She  had,  until  now,  been  quite  unconscious  of  the 
presence  of  visitors ;  but,  having  her  hand  placed 
in  that  of  the  gentleman  who  accompanied  me,  she 
immediately  expressed  his  name  upon  her  teacher's 
palm.  Indeed,  her  sense  of  touch  is  now  so  ex- 
quisite, that  having  been  acquainted  with  a  person 
once,  she  can  recognize  him  or  her  after  almost  any 
interval.  This  gentleman  had  been  in  her  company, 
I  believe,  but  very  seldom,  and  certainly  had  not 
seen  her  for  many  months.  My  hand  she  rejected 
at  once,  as  she  does  that  of  any  man  who  is  a 
stranger  to  her.  But  she  retained  my  wife's  with 
evident  pleasure,  kissed  her,  and  examined  her 
dress  with  a  girl's  curiosity  and  interest. 

She  was  merry  and  cheerful,  and  showed  much 


FOB   GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  59 

innocent  playfulness  in  her  intercourse  with  her 
teacher.  Her  delight  on  recognizing  a  favorite 
playfellow  and  companion  —  herself  a  blind  girl  — 
who  silently,  and  with  an  equal  enjoyment  of  the 
coming  surprise,  took  a  seat  beside  her,  was  beauti- 
ful to  witness.  It  elicited  from,  her  at  first,  as 
other  slight  circumstances  did  twice  or  thrice  dur- 
ing my  visit,  an  uncouth  noise  which  was  rather 
painful  to  hear.  But,  on  her  teacher  touching  her 
lips,  she  immediately  desisted,  and  embraced  her 
laughingly  and  affectionately. 

I  had  previously  been  into  another  chamber, 
where  a  number  of  blind  boys  were  swinging,  and 
climbing,  and  engaged  in  various  sports.  They  all 
clamored,  as  we  entered,  to  the  assistant  master, 
who  accompanied  us,  "Look  at  me,  Mr.  Hart! 
Please,  Mr.  Hart,  look  at  me  ! "  evincing,  I  thought, 
even  in  this,  an  anxiety  peculiar  to  their  condition, 
that  their  little  feats  of  agility  should  be  seen, 
Among  them  was  a  small  laughing  fellow,  who  stood 
aloof,  entertaining  himself  with  a  gymnastic  exer- 
cise for  bringing  the  arms  and  chest  into  play; 
which  he  enjoyed  mightily;  especially  when,  in 
thrusting  out  his  right  arm,  he  brought  it  into  con- 
tact with  another  boy.  Like  Laura  Bridgman,  this 
young  child  was  deaf,  and  dumb,  and  blind. 

Doctor  Howe's  account  of  this  pupil's  first  instruc- 
tion is  so  very  striking,  and  so  intimately  connected 
with  Laura  herself,  that  I  cannot  refrain  from  a  short 
extract.  I  may  premise  that  the  poor  boy's  name 
is  Oliver  Caswell ;  that  he  is  thirteen  years  of  age ; 
and  that  he  was  in  full  possession  of  all  his  facul- 
ties until  three  years  and  four  months  old.  He 
was  then  attacked  by  scarlet  fever :  in  four  weeks 


60  AMERICAN  NOTES 

became  deaf;  in  a  few  weeks  more,  blind;  in  six 
months,  dumb.  He  showed  his  anxious  sense  of 
this  last  deprivation  by  often  feeling  the  lips  of 
other  persons  when  they  were  talking,  and  then 
putting  his  hand  upon  his  own,  as  if  to  assure  him- 
self that  he  had  them  in  the  right  position. 

"  His  thirst  for  knowledge,"  says  Doctor  Howe, 
"  proclaimed  itself  as  soon  as  he  entered  the  house, 
by  his  eager  examination  of  everything  he  could 
feel  or  smell  in  his  new  location.  For  instance, 
treading  upon  the  register  of  a  furnace,  he  instantly 
stooped  down  and  began  to  feel  it,  and  soon  discov- 
ered the  way  in  which  the  upper  plate  moved  upon 
the  lower  one  ;  but  this  was  not  enough  for  him,  so, 
lying  down  upon  his  face,  he  applied  his  tongue 
first  to  one,  then  to  the  other,  and  seemed  to  dis- 
cover that  they  were  of  different  kinds  of  metal. 

"  His  signs  were  expressive :  and  the  strictly 
natural  language,  laughing,  crying,  sighing,  kissing, 
embracing,  etc.,  was  perfect. 

"  Some  of  the  analogical  signs  which  (guided  by 
his  faculty  of  imitation)  he  had  contrived,  were 
comprehensible ;  such  as  the  waving  motion  of  his 
hand  for  the  motion  of  a  boat,  the  circular  one  for 
a  wheel,  etc. 

"  The  first  object  was  to  break  up  the  use  of  these 
signs,  and  to  substitute  for  them  the  use  of  purely 
arbitrary  ones. 

"Profiting  by  the  experience  I  had  gained  in 
the  other  cases,  I  omitted  several  steps  of  the  pro- 
cess before  employed,  and  commenced  at  once  with 
the  finger  language.  Taking,  therefore,  several 
articles  having  short  names,  such  as  key,  cup,  mug, 
etc.,  and  with  Laura  for  an  auxiliary,  I  sat  down, 


FOB   GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  61 

and,  taking  his  hand,  placed  it  upon  one  of  them, 
and  then  with  my  own  made  the  letters  key.  He 
felt  my  hands  eagerly  with  both  of  his,  and,  on  my 
repeating  the  process,  he  evidently  tried  to  imitate 
the  motions  of  my  fingers.  In  a  few  minutes  he 
contrived  to  feel  the  motions  of  my  fingers  with  one 
hand,  and,  holding  out  the  other,  he  tried  to  imitate 
them,  laughing  most  heartily  when  he  succeeded. 
Laura  was  by,  interested  even  to  agitation  ;  and  the 
two  presented  a  singular  sight :  her  face  was  flushed 
and  anxious,  and  her  fingers  twined  in  among  ours 
so  closely  as  to  follow  every  motion,  but  so  lightly 
as  not  to  embarrass  them ;  while  Oliver  stood  at- 
tentive, his  head  a  little  aside,  his  face  turned  up, 
his  left  hand  grasping  mine,  and  his  right  held  out ; 
at  every  motion  of  my  fingers  his  countenance  be- 
tokened keen  attention  ;  there  was  an  expression  of 
anxiety  as  he  tried  to  imitate  the  motions ;  then  a 
smile  came  stealing  out  as  he  thought  he  could  do 
so,  and  spread  into  a  joyous  laugh  the  moment  he 
succeeded,  and  felt  me  pat  his  head,  and  Laura  clap 
him  heartily  upon  the  back,  and  jump  up  and  down, 
in  her  joy. 

"He  learned  more  than  a  half-dozen  letters  in 
half  an  hour,  and  seemed  delighted  with  his  success, 
at  least  in  gaining  approbation.  His  attention  then 
began  to  flag,  and  I  commenced  playing  with  him. 
It  was  evident  that  in  all  this  he  had  merely  been 
imitating  the  motions  of  my  fingers,  and  placing 
his  hand  upon  the  key,  cup,  etc.,  as  part  of  the  pro- 
cess, without  any  perception  of  the  relation  between 
the  sign  and  the  object. 

"  When  he  was  tired  with  play  I  took  him  back 
to  the  table,  and  he  was  quite  ready  to  begin  again 


62  AMERICAN  NOTES 

his  process  of  imitation.  He  soon  learned  to  make 
the  letters  for  key,  pen,  pin ;  and,  by  having  the 
object  repeatedly  placed  in  his  hand,  he  at  last  per- 
ceived the  relation  I  wished  to  establish  between 
them.  This  was  evident,  because  when  I  made  the 
letters  p  i  n,  or  p  e  n,  or  c  u  p,  he  would  select  the 
article. 

"  The  perception  of  this  relation  was  not  accom- 
panied by  that  radiant  flash  of  intelligence,  and  that 
glow  of  joy,  which  marked  the  delightful  moment 
when  Laura  first  perceived  it.  I  then  placed  all 
the  articles  on  the  table,  and  going  away  a  little 
distance  with  the  children,  placed  Oliver's  fingers 
in  the  positions  to  spell  key,  on  which  Laura  went 
and  brought  the  article :  the  little  fellow  seemed  to 
be  much  amused  by  this,  and  looked  very  attentive 
and  smiling.  I  then  caused  him  to  make  the  letters 
bread,  and  in  an  instant  Laura  went  and  brought 
him  a  piece ;  he  smelled  at  it ;  put  it  to  his  lips ; 
cocked  up  his  head  with  a  most  knowing  look; 
seemed  to  reflect  a  moment ;  and  then  laughed  out- 
right, as  much  as  to  say,  '  Aha !  I  understand  now 
how  something  may  be  made  out  of  this.' 

"  It  was  now  clear  that  he  had  the  capacity  and 
inclination  to  learn,  that  he  was  a  proper  subject 
for  instruction,  and  needed  only  persevering  atten- 
tion. I  therefore  put  him  in  the  hands  of  an  in- 
telligent teacher,  nothing  doubting  of  his  rapid 
progress." 

Well  may  this  gentleman  call  that  a  delightful 
moment,  in  which  some  distant  promise  of  her  pres- 
ent state  first  gleamed  upon  the  darkened  mind  of 
Laura  Bridgman.  Throughout  his  life,  the  recollec- 
tion of  that  moment  will  be  to  him  a  source  of  pure, 


FOB  GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  63 

unfading  happiness ;  nor  will  it  shine  least  brightly 
on  the  evening  of  his  days  of  Noble  Usefulness. 

The  affection  that  exists  between  these  two  —  the 
master  and  the  pupil  —  is  as  far  removed  from  all 
ordinary  care  and  regard,  as  the  circumstances  in 
which  it  has  had  its  growth  are  apart  from  the  com- 
mon occurrences  of  life.  He  is  occupied  now  in 
devising  means  of  imparting  to  her  higher  knowl- 
edge, and  of  conveying  to  her  some  adequate  idea 
of  the  Great  Creator  of  that  universe  in  which,  dark 
and  silent  and  scentless  though  it  be  to  her,  she  has 
such  deep  delight  and  glad  enjoyment. 

Ye  who  have  eyes  and  see  not,  and  have  ears  and 
hear  not;  ye  who  are  as  the  hypocrites  of  sad 
countenances,  and  disfigure  your  faces  that  ye  may 
seem  unto  men  to  fast ;  learn  healthy  cheerfulness, 
and  mild  contentment,  from  the  deaf,  and  dumb,  and 
blind !  Self-elected  saints  with  gloomy  brows,  this 
sightless,  earless,  voiceless  child  may  teach  you  les- 
sons you  will  do  well  to  follow.  Let  that  poor 
hand  of  hers  lie  gently  on  your  hearts ;  for  there 
may  be  something  in  its  healing  touch  akin  to  that 
of  the  Great  Master  whose  precepts  you  misconstrue, 
whose  lessons  you  pervert,  of  whose  charity  and 
sympathy  with  all  the  world  not  one  among  you,  in 
his  daily  practice,  knows  as  much  as  many  of  the 
worst  among  those  fallen  sinners,  to  whom  you  are 
liberal  in  nothing  but  the  preachment  of  perdition  \ 

As  I  rose  to  quit  the  room,  a  pretty  little  child 
of  one  of  the  attendants  came  running  in  to  greet 
its  father.  For  the  moment,  a  child  with  eyes 
among  the  sightless  crowd  impressed  me  almost  as 
painfully  as  the  blind  boy  in  the  porch  had  done, 
two  hours  ago.  Ah !  how  much  brighter  and  more 


64  AMERICAN  NOTES 

deeply  blue,  glowing  and  rich  though  it  had  been 
before,  was  the  scene  without,  contrasting  with  the 
darkness  of  so  many  youthful  lives  within ! 

At  SOUTH  BOSTON,  as  it  is  called,  in  a  situation 
excellently  adapted  for  the  purpose,  several  charita- 
ble institutions  are  clustered  together.  One  of  these 
is  the  State  Hospital  for  the  insane  ;  admirably  con- 
ducted on  those  enlightened  principles  of  concilia- 
tion and  kindness,  which  twenty  years  ago  would 
have  been  worse  than  heretical,  and  which  have  been 
acted  upon  with  so  much  success  in  our  own  pauper 
asylum  at  Hanwell.  "  Evince  a  desire  to  show 
some  confidence,  and  repose  some  trust,  even  in  mad 
people,"  said  the  resident  physician,  as  we  walked 
along  the  galleries,  his  patients  flocking  round  us 
unrestrained.  Of  those  who  deny  or  doubt  the  wis- 
dom of  this  maxim  after  witnessing  its  effects,  if 
there  be  such  people  still  alive,  I  can  only  say  that 
I  hope  I  may  never  be  summoned  as  a  Juryman  on 
a  Commission  of  Lunacy  whereof  they  are  the  sub- 
jects ;  for  I  should  certainly  find  them  out  of  their 
senses,  on  such  evidence  alone. 

Each  ward  in  this  institution  is  shaped  like  a 
long  gallery  or  hall,  with  the  dormitories  of  the 
patients  opening  from  it  on  either  hand.  Here  they 
work,  read,  play  at  skittles  and  other  games ;  and, 
when  the  weather  does  not  admit  of  their  taking 
exercise  out  of  doors,  pass  the  day  together.  In 
one  of  these  rooms,  seated  calmly,  and  quite  as  a 
matter  of  course,  among  a  throng  of  madwomen, 
black  and  white,  were  the,  physician's  wife  and 
another  lady  with  a  couple  of  children.  These 
ladies  were  graceful  and  handsome  j  and  it  was  not 


FOR  GENEEAL  CIRCULATION.  65 

difficult  to  perceive,  at  a  glance,  that  even  their 
presence  there  had  a  highly  beneficial  influence  on 
the  patients  who  were  grouped  about  them. 

Leaning  her  head  against  the  chimney-piece,  with 
a  great  assumption  of  dignity  and  refinement  of 
manner,  sat  an  elderly  female,  in  as  many  scraps  of 
finery  as  Madge  Wildfire  herself.  Her  head  in  par- 
ticular was  so  strewn  with  scraps  of  gauze  and  cot- 
ton and  bits  of  paper,  and  had  so  many  queer  odds 
and  ends  stuck  all  about  it,  that  it  looked  like  a 
bird's  nest.  She  was  radiant  with  imaginary  jewels ; 
wore  a  rich  pair  of  undoubted  gold  spectacles ;  and 
gracefully  dropped  upon  her  lap,  as  we  approached, 
a  very  old,  greasy  newspaper,  in  which  I  dare  say 
she  had  been  reading  an  account  of  her  own  presen- 
tation at  some  Foreign  Court. 

I  have  been  thus  particular  in  describing  her, 
because  she  will  serve  to  exemplify  the  physician's 
manner  of  acquiring  and  retaining  the  confidence 
of  his  patients. 

"  This,"  he  said  aloud,  taking  me  by  the  hand, 
and  advancing  to  the  fantastic  figure  with  great 
politeness  —  not  raising  her  suspicions  by  the 
slightest  look  or  whisper,  or  any  kind  of  aside,  to 
me :  "  this  lady  is  the  hostess  of  this  mansion,  sir. 
It  belongs  to  her.  Nobody  else  has  anything  what- 
ever to  do  with  it.  It  is  a  large  establishment,  as 
you  see,  and  requires  a  great  number  of  attendants. 
She  lives,  you  observe,  in  the  very  first  style.  She 
is  kind  enough  to  receive  my  visits,  and  to  permit 
my  wife  and  family  to  reside  here ;  for  which,  it  is 
hardly  necessary  to  say,  we  are  much  indebted  to 
her.  She  is  exceedingly  courteous,  you  perceive," 
—  on  this  hint  she  bowed  condescendingly,  —  "  and 


66  AMERICAN  NOTES 

will  permit  me  to  have  tlie  pleasure  of  introducing 
you :  a  gentleman  from  England,  ma'am :  newly 
arrived  from  England,  after  a  very  tempestuous 
passage  :  Mr.  Dickens  —  the  lady  of  the  house  !  " 

We  exchanged  the  most  dignified  salutations  with 
profound  gravity  and  respect,  and  so  went  on.  The 
rest  of  the  madwomen  seemed  to  understand  the 
joke  perfectly  (not  only  in  this  case,  but  in  all 
the  others,  except  their  own),  and  to  be  highly 
amused  by  it.  The  nature  of  their  several  kinds  of 
insanity  was  made  known  to  me  in  the  same  way, 
and  we  left  each  of  them  in  high  good-humor.  Not 
only  is  a  thorough  confidence  established,  by  these 
means,  between  physician  and  patient,  in  respect  of 
the  nature  and  extent  of  their  hallucinations,  but  it 
is  easy  to  understand  that  opportunities  are  afforded 
for  seizing  any  moment  of  reason,  to  startle  them 
by  placing  their  own  delusion  before  them  in  its 
most  incongruous  and  ridiculous  light. 

Every  patient  in  this  asylum  sits  down  to  dinner 
every  day  with  a  knife  and  fork ;  and  in  the  midst 
of  them  sits  the  gentleman,  whose  manner  of  deal- 
ing with  his  charges  I  have  just  described.  At 
every  meal,  moral  influence  alone  restrains  the 
more  violent  among  them  from  cutting  the  throats 
of  the  rest;  but  the  effect  of  that  influence  is  re- 
duced to  an  absolute  certainty,  and  is  found,  even  as 
a  means  of  restraint,  to  say  nothing  of  it  as  a 
means  of  cure,  a  hundred  times  more  efficacious 
than  all  the  strait-waistcoats,  fetters  and  handcuffs 
that  ignorance,  prejudice,  and  cruelty  have  manu- 
factured since  the  creation  of  the  world. 

In  the  labor  department,  every  patient  is  as  freely 
trusted  with  the  tools  of  his  trade  as  if  he  were  a 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  67 

sane  man.  In  the  garden,  and  on  the  farm,  they 
work  with  spades,  rakes,  and  hoes.  For  amusement, 
they  walk,  run,  fish,  paint,  read,  and  ride  out  to  take 
the  air  in  carriages  provided  for  the  purpose.  They 
have  among  themselves  a  sewing  society  to  make 
clothes  for  the  poor,  which  holds  meetings,  passes 
resolutions,  never  comes  to  fisticuffs  or  bowie- 
knives,  as  sane  assemblies  have  been  known  to  do 
elsewhere ;  and  conducts  all  its  proceedings  with 
the  greatest  decorum.  The  irritability,  which  would 
otherwise  be  expended  on  their  own  flesh,  clothes, 
and  furniture,  is  dissipated  in  these  pursuits.  They 
are  cheerful,  tranquil,  and  healthy. 

Once  a  week  they  have  a  ball,  in  which  the  Doc- 
tor and  his  family,  with  all  the  nurses  and  attend- 
ants, take  an  active  part.  Dances  and  marches  are 
performed  alternately,  to  the  enlivening  strains  of  a 
piano ;  and  now  and  then  some  gentleman  or  lady 
(whose  proficiency  has  been  previously  ascertained) 
obliges  the  company  with  a  song ;  nor  does  it  ever 
degenerate,  at  a  tender  crisis,  into  a  screech  or  a 
howl ;  wherein,  I  must  confess,  I  should  have  thought 
the  danger  lay.  At  an  early  hour  they  all  meet  to- 
gether for  these  festive  purposes  ;  at  eight  o'clock 
refreshments  are  served ;  and  at  nine  they  separate. 

Immense  politeness  and  good-breeding  are  ob- 
served throughout.  They  all  take  their  tone  from 
the  Doctor ;  and  he  moves  a  very  Chesterfield 
among  the  company.  Like  other  assemblies,  these 
entertainments  afford  a  fruitful  topic  of  conversa- 
tion among  the  ladies  for  some  days ;  and  the  gentle- 
men are  so  anxious  to  shine  on  these  occasions,  that 
they  have  been  sometimes  found  "  practising  their 
steps "  in  private,  to  cut  a  more  distinguished 
figure  in  the  dance. 


68  AMERICAN   NOTES 

It  is  obvious  that  one  great  feature  of  this  system 
is  the  inculcation  and  encouragement,  even  among 
such  unhappy  persons,  of  a  decent  self-respect. 
Something  of  the  same  spirit  pervades  all  the  In- 
stitutions at  South  Boston. 

There  is  the  House  of  Industry.  In  that  branch 
of  it  which  is  devoted  to  the  reception  of  old  or 
otherwise  helpless  paupers,  these  words  are  painted 
on  the  walls :  "  WORTHY  OF  NOTICE.  SELF-GOV- 
ERNMENT, QUIETUDE,  AND  PEACE  ARE  BLESSINGS." 
It  is  not  assumed  and  taken  for  granted  that,  being 
there,  they  must  be  evil-disposed  and  wicked  people, 
before  whose  vicious  eyes  it  is  necessary  to  flourish 
threats  and  harsh  restraints.  They  are  met  at  the 
very  threshold  with  this  mild  appeal.  All  within 
doors  is  very  plain  and  simple,  as  it  ought  to  be, 
but  arranged  with  a  view  to  peace  and  comfort.  It 
costs  no  more  than  any  other  plan  of  arrangement, 
but  it  bespeaks  an  amount  of  consideration  for 
those  who  are  reduced  to  seek  a  shelter  there,  which 
puts  them  at  once  upon  their  gratitude  and  good 
behavior.  Instead  of  being  parcelled  out  in  great, 
long,  rambling  wards,  where  a  certain  amount  of 
weazen  life  may  mope,  and  pine,  and  shiver  all  day 
long,  the  building  is  divided  into  separate  rooms, 
each  with  its  share  of  light  and  air.  In  these  the 
better  kind  of  paupers  live.  They  have  a  motive 
for  exertion  and  becoming  pride,  in  the  desire  to 
make  these  little  chambers  comfortable  and  decent. 
I  do  not  remember  one  but  it  was  clean  and  neat, 
and  had  its  plant  or  two  upon  the  window-sill,  or 
row  of  crockery  upon  the  shelf,  or  small  display  of 
colored  prints  upon  the  whitewashed  wall,  or,  per- 
haps, its  wooden  clock  behind  the  door. 


FOR   GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  69 

The  orphans  and  young  children  are  in  an  adjoin- 
ing building ;  separate  from  this,  but  a  part  of  the 
same  Institution.  Some  are  such  little  creatures 
that  the  stairs  are  of  Lilliputian  measurement,  fitted 
to  their  tiny  strides.  The  same  consideration  for 
their  years  and  weakness  is  expressed  in  their  very 
seats,  which  are  perfect  curiosities,  and  look  like 
articles  of  furniture  for  a  pauper  doll's  house.  I 
can  imagine  the  glee  of  our  Poor-Law  Commissioners 
at  the  notion  of  these  seats  having  arms  and  backs ; 
but  small  spines  being  of  older  date  than  their 
occupation  of  the  Board-room  at  Somerset  House,  I 
thought  even  this  provision  very  merciful  and  kind. 

Here,  again,  I  was  greatly  pleased  with  the  in- 
scriptions on  the  wall,  which  were  scraps  of  plain 
morality,  easily  remembered  and  understood :  such 
as  "  Love  one  another  "  —  "  God  remembers  the 
smallest  creature  in  his  creation:"  and  straight- 
forward advice  of  that  nature.  The  books  and 
tasks  of  these  smallest  of  scholars  were  adapted,  in 
the  same  judicious  manner,  to  their  childish  powers. 
When  we  had  examined  these  lessons,  four  morsels 
of  girls  (of  whom  one  was  blind)  sang  a  little  song 
about  the  merry  month  of  May,  which  I  thought 
(being  extremely  dismal)  would  have  suited  an 
English  November  better.  That  done,  we  went  to 
see  their  sleeping-rooms  on  the  floor  above,  in  which 
the  arrangements  were  no  less  excellent  and  gentle 
than  those  we  had  seen  below.  And  after  observing 
that  the  teachers  were  of  a  class  and  character  well 
suited  to  the  spirit  of  the  place,  I  took  leave  of  the 
infants  with  a  lighter  heart  than  ever  I  have  taken 
leave  of  pauper  infants  yet. 

Connected  with  the  House  of  Industry,  there  is 


also  a  Hospital,  which  was  in  the  best  order,  and 
had,  I  am  glad  to  say,  many  beds  unoccupied.  It 
had  one  fault,  however,  which  is  common  to  all 
American  interiors :  the  presence  of  the  eternal, 
accursed,  suffocating,  red-hot  demon  of  a  stove, 
whose  breath  would  blight  the  purest  air  under 
Heaven. 

There  are  two  establishments  for  boys  in  this 
same  neighborhood.  One  is  called  the  Boylston 
School,  and  is  an  asylum  for  neglected  and  indigent 
boys  who  have  committed  no  crime,  but  who,  in  the 
ordinary  course  of  things,  would  very  soon  be 
purged  of  that  distinction  if  they  were  not  taken 
from  the  hungry  streets  and  sent  here.  The  other 
is  a  House  of  Reformation  for  Juvenile  Offenders. 
They  are  both  under  the  same  roof,  but  the  two 
classes  of  boys  never  come  in  contact. 

The  Boylston  boys,  as  may  be  readily  supposed, 
have  very  much  the  advantage  of  the  others  in  point 
of  personal  appearance.  They  were  in  their  school- 
room when  I  came  upon  them,  and  answered  cor- 
rectly, without  book,  such  questions  as  where  was 
England ;  how  far  was  it ;  what  was  its  population ; 
its  capital  city;  its  form  of  government;  and  so 
forth.  They  sang  a  song,  too,  about  a  farmer  sowing 
his  seed:  with  corresponding  action  at  such  parts 
as  "  'tis  thus  he  sows,"  "  he  turns  him  round,"  "  he 
claps  his  hands ;  "  which  gave  it  greater  interest  for 
them,  and  accustomed  them  to  act  together  in  an. 
orderly  manner.  They  appeared  exceedingly  well 
taught,  and  not  better  taught  than  fed ;  for  a  more 
chubby-looking,  full-waistcoated  set  of  boys  I  never 
saw. 
:  The  juvenile  offenders  had  not  such  pleasant  faces 


FOR   GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  71 

by  a  great  deal,  and  in  this  establishment  there  were 
many  boys  of  color.  I  saw  them  first  at  their  work 
(basket-making,  and  the  manufacture  of  palm-leaf 
hats),  afterwards  in  their  school,  where  they  sang  a 
chorus  in  praise  of  Liberty :  an  odd,  and,  one  would 
think,  rather  aggravating,  theme  for  prisoners. 
These  boys  were  divided  into  four  classes,  each 
denoted  by  a  numeral,  worn  on  a  badge  upon  the 
arm.  On  the  arrival  of  a  new-comer,  he  is  put  into 
the  fourth  or  lowest  class,  and  left,  by  good  behavior, 
to  work  his  way  up  into  the  first.  The  design  and 
object  of  this  Institution  is  to  reclaim  the  youthful 
criminal  by  firm,  but  kind  and  judicious,  treatment ; 
to  make  his  prison  a  place  of  purification  and  im- 
provement, not  of  demoralization  and  corruption ; 
to  impress  upon  him  that  there  is  but  one  path,  and 
that  one  sober  industry,  which  can  ever  lead  him  to 
happiness ;  to  teach  him  how  it  may  be  trodden,  if 
his  footsteps  have  never  yet  been  led  that  way ;  and 
to  lure  him  back  to  it,  if  they  have  strayed :  in  a 
word,  to  snatch  him  from  destruction,  and  restore 
him  to  society  a  penitent  and  useful  member.  The 
importance  of  such  an  establishment,  in  every  point 
of  view,  and  with  reference  to  every  consideration 
of  humanity  and  social  policy,  requires  no  comment. 

One  other  establishment  closes  the  catalogue.  It 
is  the  House  of  Correction  for  the  State,  in  which 
silence  is  strictly  maintained,  but  where  the  prison- 
ers have  the  comfort  and  mental  relief  of  seeing 
each  other,  and  of  working  together.  This  is  the 
improved  system  of  Prison  Discipline  which  we 
have  imported  into  England,  and  which  has  been  in 
successful  operation  among  us  for  some  years  past. 

America,  as  a  new  and  not  over-populated  country, 


72  AMEKICAN  NOTES 

has  in  all  her  prisons  the  one  great  advantage  of 
being  enabled  to  find  useful  and  profitable  work  for 
the  inmates :  whereas,  with  us,  the  prejudice  against 
prison  labor  is  naturally  very  strong,  and  almost 
insurmountable,  when  honest  men,  who  have  not 
offended  against  the  laws,  are  frequently  doomed  to 
seek  employment  in  vain.  Even  in  the  United 
States,  the  principle  of  bringing  convict  labor  and 
free  labor  into  a  competition  which  must  obviously 
be  to  the  disadvantage  of  the  latter,  has  already 
found  many  opponents,  whose  number  is  not  likely 
to  diminish  with  access  of  years. 

For  this  very  reason,  though,  our  best  prisons 
would  seem  at  the  first  glance  to  be  better  conducted 
than  those  of  America.  The  treadmill  is  accompa- 
nied with  little  or  no  noise ;  five  hundred  men  may 
pick  oakum  in  the  same  room  without  a  sound ;  and 
both  kinds  of  labor  admit  of  such  keen  and  vigilant 
superintendence,  as  will  render  even  a  word  of  per- 
sonal communication  among  the  prisoners  almost 
impossible.  On  the  other  hand,  the  noise  of  the 
loom,  the  forge,  the  carpenter's  hammer,  or  the 
stonemason's  saw  greatly  favors  those  opportunities 
of  intercourse  —  hurried  and  brief,  no  doubt,  but 
opportunities  still  —  which  these  several  kinds  of 
work,  by  rendering  it  necessary  for  men  to  be  em- 
ployed very  near  to  each  other,  and  often  side  by 
side,  without  any  barrier  or  partition  between  them, 
in  their  very  nature  present.  A  visitor,  too,  requires 
to  reason  and  reflect  a  little,  before  the  sight  of  a 
number  of  men  engaged  in  ordinary  labor,  such  as 
he  is  accustomed  to  out  of  doors,  will  impress  him 
half  as  strongly  as  the  contemplation  of  the  same 
persons  in  the  same  place  and  garb  would,  if  they 


FOR   GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  73 

were  occupied  in  some  task,  marked  and  degraded 
everywhere  as  belonging  only  to  felons  in  jails.  In 
an  American  State  prison,  or  house  of  correction,  I 
found  it  difficult  at  first  to  persuade  myself  that  I 
was  really  in  a  jail :  a  place  of  ignominious  punish- 
ment and  endurance.  And  to  this  hour  I  very  much 
question  whether  the  humane  boast,  that  it  is  not 
like  one,  has  its  root  in  the  true  wisdom  or  philoso- 
phy of  the  matter. 

I  hope  I  may  not  be  misunderstood  on  this  sub- 
ject, for  it  is  one  in  which  I  take  a  strong  and  deep 
interest.  I  incline  as  little  to  the  sickly  feeling 
which  makes  every  canting  lie  or  maudlin  speech  of 
a  notorious  criminal  a  subject  of  newspaper  report 
and  general  sympathy,  as  I  do  to  those  good  old 
customs  of  the  good  old  times  which  made  England, 
even  so  recently  as  in  the  reign  of  the  Third  King 
George,  in  respect  of  her  criminal  code  and  her 
prison  regulations,  one  of  the  most  bloody-minded 
and  barbarous  countries  on  the  earth.  If  I  thought 
it  would  do  any  good  to  the  rising  generation,  I 
would  cheerfully  give  my  consent  to  the  disinter- 
ment  of  the  bones  of  any  genteel  highwayman  (the 
more  genteel,  the  more  cheerfully),  and  to  their 
exposure,  piecemeal,  on  any  sign-post,  gate,  or  gib- 
bet that  might  be  deemed  a  good  elevation  for  the 
purpose.  My  reason  is  as  well  convinced  that  these 
gentry  were  utterly  worthless  and  debauched  vil- 
lains, as  it  is  that  the  laws  and  jails  hardened  them 
in  their  evil  courses,  or  that  their  wonderful  escapes 
were  effected  by  the  prison  turnkeys  who,  in  those 
admirable  days,  had  always  been  felons  themselves, 
and  were,  to  the  last,  their  bosom  friends  and  pot 
companions.  At  the  same  time,  I  know,  as  all  men 


74  AMERICAN  NOTES 

do  or  should,  that  the  subject  of  Prison  Discipline 
is  one  of  the  highest  importance  to  any  community ; 
and  that,  in  her  sweeping  reform  and  bright  example 
to  other  countries  on  this  head,  America  has  shown 
great  wisdom,  great  benevolence,  and  exalted  policy. 
In  contrasting  her  system  with  that  which  we  have 
modelled  upon  it,  I  merely  seek  to  show  that,  with 
all  its  drawbacks,  ours  has  some  advantages  of  its 
own.1 

The  House  of  Correction  which  has  led  to  these 
remarks  is  not  walled,  like  other  prisons,  but  is 
palisaded  round  about  with  tall  rough  stakes,  some- 
thing after  the  manner  of  an  enclosure  for  keeping 
elephants  in,  as  we  see  it  represented  in  Eastern 
prints  and  pictures.  The  prisoners  wear  a  party- 
colored  dress ;  and  those  who  are  sentenced  to  hard 
labor  work  at  nail-making  or  stone-cutting.  When 
I  was  there,  the  latter  class  of  laborers  were  em- 
ployed upon  the  stone  for  a  new  Custom  House  in 
course  of  erection  at  Boston.  They  appeared  to 
shape  it  skilfully  and  with  expedition,  though  there 
were  very  few  among  them  (if  any)  who  had  not 
acquired  the  art  within  the  prison  gates. 

The  women,  all  in  one  large  room,  were  employed 
in  making  light  clothing  for  New  Orleans  and  the 

1  Apart  from  profit  made  by  the  useful  labor  of  prisoners,  which  we 
can  never  hope  to  realize  to  any  great  extent,  and  which  it  is  perhaps 
not  expedient  for  us  to  try  to  gain,  there  are  two  prisons  in  London,  in 
all  respects  equal,  and  in  some  decidedly  superior,  to  any  1  saw,  or  have 
ever  heard  or  read  of,  in  America.  One  is  the  Tothill  Fields  Bridewell, 
conducted  by  Lieutenant  A.  F.  Tracey,  R.N. ;  the  other  the  Middlesex 
House  of  Correction,  superintended  by  Mr.  Chesterton.  This  gentleman 
also  holds  an  appointment  in  the  Public  Service.  Both  are  enlightened 
and  superior  men;  and  it  would  be  as  difficult  to  find  persons  better 
qualified  for  the  functions  they  discharge  with  firmness,  zeal,  intelli- 
gence, and  humanity,  as  it  would  be  to  exceed  the  perfect  order  and 
arrangement  of  the  institutions  they  govern. 


FOB  GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  75 

Southern  States.  They  did  their  work  in  silence, 
like  the  men ;  and,  like  them,  were  overlooked  by 
the  person  contracting  for  their  labor,  or  by  some 
agent  of  his  appointment.  In  addition  to  this,  they 
are  every  moment  liable  to  be  visited  by  the  prison 
officers  appointed  for  that  purpose. 

The  arrangements  for  cooking,  washing  of  clothes, 
and  so  forth,  are  much  upon  the  plan  of  those  I  have 
seen  at  home.  Their  mode  of  bestowing  the  prison- 
ers at  night  (which  is  of  general  adoption)  differs 
from  ours,  and  is  both  simple  and  effective.  In  the 
centre  of  a  lofty  area,  lighted  by  windows  in  the 
four  walls,  are  five  tiers  of  cells,  one  above  the  other ; 
each  tier  having  before  it  a  light  iron  gallery,  attain- 
able by  stairs  of  the  same  construction  and  material ; 
excepting  the  lower  one,  which  is  on  the  ground. 
Behind  these,  back  to  back  with  them,  and  facing 
the  opposite  wall,  are  five  corresponding  rows  of 
cells,  accessible  by  similar  means :  so  that,  suppos- 
ing the  prisoners  locked  up  in  their  cells,  an  officer 
stationed  on  the  ground,  with  his  back  to  the  wall, 
has  half  their  number  under  his  eye  at  once ;  the 
remaining  half  being  equally  under  the  observation 
of  another  officer  on  the  opposite  side ;  and  all  in 
one  great  apartment.  Unless  this  watch  be  cor- 
rupted or  sleeping  on  his  post,  it  is  impossible  for  a 
man  to  escape ;  for  even  in  the  event  of  his  forcing 
the  iron  door  of  his  cell  without  noise  (which  is 
exceedingly  improbable),  the  moment  he  appears 
outside,  and  steps  into  that  one  of  the  five  galleries 
on  which  it  is  situated,  he  must  be  plainly  and  fully 
visible  to  the  officer  below.  Each  of  these  cells 
holds  a  small  truckle-bed,  in  which  one  prisoner 
sleeps ;  never  more.  It  is  small,  of  course ;  and  the 


76  AMERICAN  NOTES 

door  being  not  solid,  but  grated,  and  without  blind 
or  curtain,  the  prisoner  within  is  at  all  times  exposed 
to  the  observation  and  inspection  of  any  guard  who 
may  pass  along  that  tier  at  any  hour  or  minute  of 
the  night.  Every  day,  the  prisoners  receive  their 
dinner,  singly,  through  a  trap  in  the  kitchen  wall ; 
and  each  man  carries  his  to  his  sleeping  cell  to  eat 
it,  where  he  is  locked  up  alone,  for  that  purpose, 
one  hour.  The  whole  of  this  arrangement  struck 
me  as  being  admirable ;  and  I  hope  that  the  next 
new  prison  we  erect  in  England  may  be  built  on 
this  plan. 

I  was  given  to  understand  that  in  this  prison  no 
swords  or  fire-arms,  or  even  cudgels,  are  kept ;  nor 
is  it  probable  that,  so  long  as  its  present  excellent 
management  continues,  any  weapon,  offensive  or 
defensive,  will  ever  be  required  within  its  bounds. 

Such  are  the  Institutions  at  South  Boston !  In 
all  of  them,  the  unfortunate  or  degenerate  citizens 
of  the  State  are  carefully  instructed  in  their  duties 
both  to  God  and  man ;  are  surrounded  by  all  rea- 
sonable means  of  comfort  and  happiness  that  their 
condition  will  admit  of ;  are  appealed  to  as  members 
of  the  great  human  family,  however  afflicted,  indi- 
gent, or  fallen  ;  are  ruled  by  the  strong  Heart,  and 
not  by  the  strong  (though  immeasurably  weaker) 
Hand.  I  have  described  them  at  some  length: 
firstly,  because  their  worth  demanded  it ;  and  sec- 
ondly, because  I  mean  to  take  them  for  a  model, 
and  to  content  myself  with  saying  of  others  we  may 
come  to,  whose  design  and  purpose  are  the  same, 
that  in  this  or  that  respect  they  practically  fail,  or 
differ. 

I  wish  by  this  account  of  them,  imperfect  in  its 


FOE   GENERAL  CIRCTTLATION.  77 

execution,  but,  in  its  just  intention,  honest,  I  could 
hope  to  convey  to  my  readers  one  hundredth  part  of 
the  gratification  the  sights  I  have  described  afforded 
me. 

To  an  Englishman,  accustomed  to  the  parapher- 
nalia of  Westminster  Hall,  an  American  Court  of 
Law  is  as  odd  a  sight  as,  I  suppose,  an  English 
Court  of  Law  would  be  to  an  American.  Except  in 
the  Supreme  Court  at  Washington  (where  the 
judges  wear  a  plain  black  robe),  there  is  no  such 
thing  as  a  wig  or  gown  connected  with  the  admin- 
istration of  justice.  The  gentlemen  of  the  bar, 
being  barristers  and  attorneys  too  (for  there  is  no 
division  of  those  functions  as  in  England),  are  no 
more  removed  from  their  clients  than  attorneys  in 
our  Court  for  the  Belief  of  Insolvent  Debtors  are 
from  theirs.  The  jury  are  quite  at  home,  and  make 
themselves  as  comfortable  as  circumstances  will 
permit.  The  witness  is  so  little  elevated  above, 
or  put  aloof  from,  the  crowd  in  the  court,  that  a 
stranger  entering  during  a  pause  in  the  proceedings 
would  find  it  difficult  to  pick  him  out  from  the  rest. 
And  if  it  chanced  to  be  a  criminal  trial,  his  eyes,  in 
nine  eases  out  of  ten,  would  wander  to  the  dock 
in  search  of  the  prisoner  in  vain ;  for  that  gentle- 
man would  most  likely  be  lounging  among  the  most 
distinguished  ornaments  of  the  legal  profession, 
whispering  suggestions  in  his  counsel's  ear,  or 
making  a  toothpick  out  of  an  old  quill  with  his 
penknife. 

I  could  not  but  notice  these  differences  when 
I  visited  the  courts  at  Boston.  I  was  much  sur- 
prised at  first,  too,  to  observe  that  the  counsel  who 


78  AMERICAN  NOTES 

interrogated  the  witness  under  examination  at  the 
time  did  so  sitting.  But  seeing  that  he  was  also 
occupied  in  writing  down  the  answers,  and  remem- 
bering that  he  was  alone,  and  had  no  "junior," 
I  quickly  consoled  myself  with  the  reflection  that 
.  law  was  not  quite  so  expensive  an  article  here  as  at 
home ;  and  that  the  absence  of  sundry  formalities, 
which  we  regard  as  indispensable,  had  doubtless 
a  very  favorable  influence  upon  the  bill  of  costs. 

In  every  court  ample  and  commodious  provision 
is  made  for  the  accommodation  of  the  citizens. 
This  is  the  case  all  through  America.  In  every 
Public  Institution,  the  right  of  the  people  to  attend, 
and  to  have  an  interest  in  the  proceedings,  is 
most  fully  and  distinctly  recognized.  There  are  no 
grim  door-keepers  to  dole  out  their  tardy  civility 
by  the  sixpenny  worth ;  nor  is  there,  I  sincerely 
believe,  any  insolence  of  office  of  any  kind.  Noth- 
ing national  is  exhibited  for  money ;  and  no  public 
officer  is  a  showman.  We  have  begun,  of  late  years, 
to  imitate  this  good  example.  I  hope  we  shall  con- 
tinue to  do  so;  and  that,  in  the  fulness  of  time, 
even  deans  and  chapters  may  be  converted. 

In  the  civil  court  an  action  was  trying  for  dam- 
ages sustained  in  some  accident  upon  a  railway. 
The  witnesses  had  been  examined,  and  counsel  was 
addressing  the  jury.  The  learned  gentleman  (like 
a  few  of  his  English  brethren)  was  desperately  long- 
winded,  and  had  a  remarkable  capacity  of  saying 
the  same  thing  over  and  over  again.  His  great 
theme  was  "Warren  the  Engine  driver,"  whom  he 
pressed  into  the  service  of  every  sentence  he  uttered. 
I  listened  to  him  for  about  a  quarter  of  an  hour ; 
and,  coming  out  of  court  at  the  expiration  of  that 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  79 

time,  without  the  faintest  ray  of  enlightenment  as 
to  the  merits  of  the  case,  felt  as  if  I  were  at  home 
again. 

In  the  prisoners'  cell,  waiting  to  be  examined  by 
the  magistrate  on  a  charge  of  theft,  was  a  boy. 
This  lad,  instead  of  being  committed  to  a  common 
jail,  would  be  sent  to  the  asylum  at  South  Boston, 
and  there  taught  a  trade ;  and,  in  the  course  of  time, 
he  would  be  bound  apprentice  to  some  respectable 
master.  Thus  his  detection  in  this  offence,  instead 
of  being  the  prelude  to  a  life  of  infamy  and  a  miser- 
able death,  would  lead,  there  was  a  reasonable  hope, 
to  his  being  reclaimed  from  vice,  and  becoming  a 
worthy  member  of  society. 

I  am  by  no  means  a  wholesale  admirer  of  our 
legal  solemnities,  many  of  which  impress  me  as 
being  exceedingly  ludicrous.  Strange  as  it  may 
seem,  too,  there  is  undoubtedly  a  degree  of  protec- 
tion in  the  wig  and  gown  —  a  dismissal  of  individual 
responsibility  in  dressing  for  the  part — which  en- 
courages that  insolent  bearing  and  language,  and 
that  gross  perversion  of  the  office  of  a  pleader  for 
The  Truth,  so  frequent  in  our  courts  of  law.  Still, 
I  cannot  help  doubting  whether  America,  in  her 
desire  to  shake  off  the  absurdities  and  abuses  of  the 
old  system,  may  not  have  gone  too  far  into  the 
opposite  extreme ;  and  whether  it  is  not  desirable, 
especially  in  the  small  community  of  a  city  like 
this,  where  each  man  knows  the  other,  to  surround 
the  administration  of  justice  with  some  artificial 
barriers  against  the  "  Hail  fellow,  well  met "  deport- 
ment of  every-day  life.  All  the  aid  it  can  have  in 
the  very  high  character  and  ability  of  the  Bench, 
not  only  here,  but  elsewhere,  it  has,  and  well  de- 


80  AMERICAN  NOTES 

serves  to  have ;  but  it  may  need  something  more  : 
not  to  impress  the  thoughtful  and  the  well  informed, 
but  the  ignorant  and  heedless  ;  a  class  which  in- 
cludes some  prisoners  and  many  witnesses.  These 
institutions  were  established,  no  doubt,  upon  the 
principle  that  those  who  had  so  large  a  share  in 
making  the  laws  would  certainly  respect  them. 
But  experience  has  proved  this  hope  to  be  falla- 
cious ;  for  no  men  know  better  than  the  judges  of 
America,  that  on  the  occasion  of  any  great  popular 
excitement  the  law  is  powerless,  and  cannot,  for  the 
time,  assert  its  own  supremacy. 

The  tone  of  society  in  Boston  is  one  of  perfect 
politeness,  courtesy,  and  good-breeding.  The  ladies 
are  unquestionably  very  beautiful  —  in  face:  but 
there  I  am  compelled  to  stop.  Their  education  is 
much  as  with  us ;  neither  better  nor  worse.  I  had 
heard  some  very  marvellous  stories  in  this  respect ; 
but,  not  believing  them,  was  not  disappointed.  Blue 
ladies  there  are  in  Boston ;  but,  like  philosophers 
of  that  color  and  sex  in  most  other  latitudes,  they 
rather  desire  to  be  thought  superior  than  to  be  so. 
Evangelical  ladies  there  are,  likewise,  whose  attach- 
ment to  the  forms  of  religion,  and  horror  of  theatri- 
cal entertainments,  are  most  exemplary.  Ladies 
who  have  a  passion  for  attending  lectures  are  to  be 
found  among  all  classes  and  all  conditions.  In  the 
kind  of  provincial  life  which  prevails  in  cities  such 
as  this,  the  Pulpit  has  great  influence.  The  peculiar 
province  of  the  Pulpit  in  New  England  (always 
excepting  the  Unitarian  ministry)  would  appear  to 
be  the  denouncement  of  all  innocent  and  rational 
amusements.  The  church,  the  chapel,  and  the  lec- 
ture-room are  the  only  means  of  excitement  excepted ; 


FOB   GENERAL,   CIRCULATION.  81 

and  to  the  church,  the  chapel,  and  the  lecture-room 
the  ladies  resort  in  crowds. 

Wherever  religion  is  resorted  to  as  a  strong  drink, 
and  as  an  escape  from  the  dull,  monotonous  round  of 
home,  those  of  its  ministers  who  pepper  the  highest 
will  be  the  surest  to  please.  They  who  strew  the 
Eternal  Path  with  the  greatest  amount  of  brimstone, 
and  who  most  ruthlessly  tread  down  the  flowers  and 
leaves  that  grow  by  the  wayside,  will  be  voted  the 
most  righteous ;  and  they  who  enlarge  with  the 
greatest  pertinacity  on  the  difficulty  of  getting  into 
heaven  will  be  considered,  by  all  true  believers,  cer- 
tain of  going  there :  though  it  would  be  hard  to 
say  by  what  process  of  reasoning  this  conclusion  is 
arrived  at.  It  is  so  at  home,  and  it  is  so  abroad. 
With  regard  to  the  other  means  of  excitement,  the 
Lecture,  it  has  at  least  the  merit  of  being  always 
new.  One  lecture  treads  so  quickly  on  the  heels  of 
another,  that  none  are  remembered ;  and  the  course 
of  this  month  may  be  safely  repeated  next,  with 
its  charm  of  novelty  unbroken,  and  its  interest  un- 
abated. 

The  fruits  of  the  earth  have  their  growth  in  cor- 
ruption. Out  of  the  rottenness  of  these  things 
there  has  sprung  up  in  Boston  a  sect  of  philoso- 
phers known  as  Transcendentalists.  On  inquiring 
what  this  appellation  might  be  supposed  to  signify, 
I  was  given  to  understand  that  whatever  was  un- 
intelligible would  be  certainly  transcendental.  Not 
deriving  much  comfort  from  this  elucidation,  I  pur- 
sued the  inquiry  still  further,  and  found  that  the 
Transcendentalists  are  followers  of  my  friend  Mr. 
Carlyle,  or  I  should  rather  say,  of  a  follower  of  his, 
Mr.  Ealph  Waldo  Emerson.  This  gentleman  has 
6 


82  AMERICAN  NOTES 

written  a  volume  of  Essays,  in  which,  among  much 
that  is  dreamy  and  fanciful  (if  he  will  pardon  me 
for  saying  so),  there  is  much  more  that  is  true  and 
manly,  honest  and  bold.  Transcendentalism  has  its 
occasional  vagaries  (what  school  has  not  ?),  but  it 
has  good  healthful  qualities  in  spite  of  them ;  not 
least  among  the  number  a  hearty  disgust  of  Cant, 
and  an  aptitude  to  detect  her  in  all  the  million  vari- 
eties of  her  everlasting  wardrobe.  And  therefore, 
if  I  were  a  Bostonian,  I  think  I  would  be  a  Tran- 
scendentalist. 

The  only  preacher  I  heard  in  Boston  was  Mr. 
Taylor,  who  addresses  himself  peculiarly  to  sea- 
men, and  who  was  once  a  mariner  himself.  I 
found  his  chapel  down  among  the  shipping,  in  one 
of  the  narrow,  old,  water-side  streets,  with  a  gay 
blue  flag  waving  freely  from  its  roof.  In  the  gal- 
lery opposite  to  the  pulpit  were  a  little  choir  of  male 
and  female  singers,  a  violoncello,  and  a  violin.  The 
preacher  already  sat  in  the  pulpit,  which  was  raised 
on  pillars,  and  ornamented  behind  him  with  painted 
drapery  of  a  lively  and  somewhat  theatrical  appear- 
ance. He  looked  a  weather-beaten,  hard-featured 
man,  of  about  six  or  eight  and  fifty ;  with  deep 
lines  graven  as  it  were  into  his  face,  dark  hair,  and 
a  stern,  keen  eye.  Yet  the  general  character  of  his 
countenance  was  pleasant  and  agreeable. 

The  service  commenced  with  a  hymn,  to  which 
succeeded  an  extemporary  prayer.  It  had  the  fault 
of  frequent  repetition,  incidental  to  all  such  prayers ; 
but  it  was  plain  and  comprehensive  in  its  doctrines, 
and  breathed  a  tone  of  general  sympathy  and  char- 
ity, which  is  not  so  commonly  a  characteristic  of 
this  form  of  address  to  the  Deity  as  it  might  be. 


FOE   GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  83 

That  done,  he  opened  his  discourse,  taking  for  his 
text  a  passage  from  the  Song  of  Solomon,  laid  upon 
the  desk  before  the  commencement  of  the  service  by 
some  unknown  member  of  the  congregation :  "  Who 
is  this  coining  up  from  the  wilderness,  leaning  on 
the  arm  of  her  beloved  ?  " 

He  handled  his  text  in  all  kinds  of  ways,  and 
twisted  it  into  all  manner  of  shapes;  but  always 
ingeniously,  and  with  a  rude  eloquence  well  adapted 
to  the  comprehension  of  his  hearers.  Indeed,  if  I 
be  not  mistaken,  he  studied  their  sympathies  and 
understandings  much  more  than  the  display  of  his 
own  powers.  His  imagery  was  all  drawn  from  the 
sea,  and  from  the  incidents  of  a  seaman's  life ;  and 
was  often  remarkably  good.  He  spoke  to  them  of 
"that  glorious  man,  Lord  Nelson,"  and  of  Colling- 
wood ;  and  drew  nothing  in,  as  the  saying  is,  by  the 
head  and  shoulders,  but  brought  it  to  bear  upon 
his  purpose  naturally,  and  with  a  sharp  mind  to  its 
effect.  Sometimes,  when  much  excited  with  his 
subject,  he  had  an  odd  way  —  compounded  of  John 
Bunyan  and  Balfour  of  Burley  —  of  taking  his  great 
quarto  Bible  under  his  arm,  and  pacing  up  and  down 
the  pulpit  with  it ;  looking  steadily  down  meantime, 
into  the  midst  of  the  congregation.  Thus,  when  he 
applied  his  text  to  the  first  assemblage  of  his  hearers, 
and  pictured  the  wonder  of  the  church  at  their  pre- 
sumption in  forming  a  congregation  among  them- 
selves, he  stopped  short  with  his  Bible  under  his 
arm  in  the  manner  I  have  described,  and  pursued 
his  discourse  after  this  manner : 

"Who  are  these  —  who  are  they  —  who  are  these 
fellows  ?  Where  do  they  come  from  ?  Where  are 
they  going  to  ?  —  Come  from !  What's  the  answer  ?  " 


84  AMERICAN  NOTES 

leaning  out  of  the  pulpit,  and  pointing  downward 
with  his  right  hand :  "  From  below ! "  —  starting  back 
again,  and  looking  at  the  sailors  before  him :  "  from 
below,  my  brethren.  From  under  the  hatches  of  sin, 
battened  down  above  you  by  the  evil  one.  That's 
where  you  came  from  ! "  —  a  walk  up  and  down  the 
pulpit :  "  and  where  are  you  going  ?  "  —  stopping 
abruptly :  "  where  are  you  going  ?  Aloft ! "  —  very 
softly,  and  pointing  upward :  "  aloft !  "  —  louder : 
"  aloft ! "  —  louder  still :  "  that's  where  you  are  going 
—  with  a  fair  wind, — all  taut  and  trim,  steering 
direct  for  Heaven  in  its  glory,  where  there  are  no 
storms  or  foul  weather,  and  where  the  wicked  cease 
from  troubling,  and  the  weary  are  at  rest."  —  An- 
other walk :  "  That's  where  you're  going  to,  my 
friends.  That's  it.  That's  the  place.  That's  the 
port.  That's  the  haven.  It's  a  blessed  harbor  — 
still  water  there,  in  all  changes  of  the  winds  and 
tides ;  no  driving  ashore  upon  the  rocks,  or  slipping 
your  cables  and  running  out  to  sea  there :  Peace  — 
Peace  —  Peace  —  all  peace!"  —  Another  walk,  and 
patting  the  Bible  under  his  left  arm :  "  What ! 
These  fellows  are  coming  from  the  wilderness,  are 
they  ?  Yes.  From  the  dreary,  blighted  wilderness 
of  Iniquity,  whose  only  crop  is  Death.  But  do  they 
lean  upon  anything  —  do  they  lean  upon  nothing, 
these  poor  seamen  ?  "  —  Three  raps  upon  the  Bible : 
"  Oh,  yes !  —  Yes.  —  They  lean  upon  the  arm  of  their 
Beloved" — three  more  raps :  "upon  the  arm  of  their 
Beloved  "  —  three  more,  and  a  walk :  "  Pilot,  guid- 
ing-star, and  compass,  all  in  one,  to  all  hands  — 
here  it  is  "  —  three  more :  "  here  it  is.  They  can 
do  their  seaman's  duty  manfully,  and  be  easy  in  their 
minds  in  the  utmost  peril  and  danger,  with  this  "  — 


FOR   GENERAL   CIRCULATION.  85 

two  more :  "  they  can  come,  even  these  poor  fellows 
can  come,  from  the  wilderness,  leaning  on  the  arm 
of  their  Beloved,  and  go  up  —  up  —  up  ! "  —  raising 
his  hand  higher  and  higher  at  every  repetition  of 
the  word,  so  that  he  stood  with  it  at  last  stretched 
above  his  head,  regarding  them  in  a  strange,  rapt 
manner,  and  pressing  the  book  triumphantly  to  his 
breast  until  he  gradually  subsided  into  some  other 
portion  of  his  discourse. 

I  have  cited  this,  rather  as  an  instance  of  the 
preacher's  eccentricities  than  his  merits,  though, 
taken  in  connection  with  his  look  and  manner,  and 
the  character  of  his  audience,  even  this  was  strik- 
ing. It  is  possible,  however,  that  my  favorable  im- 
pression of  him  may  have  been  greatly  influenced 
and  strengthened,  firstly,  by  his  impressing  upon 
his  hearers  that  the  true  observance  of  religion  was 
not  inconsistent  with  a  cheerful  deportment  and  an 
exact  discharge  of  the  duties  of  their  station,  which, 
indeed,  it  scrupulously  required  of  them ;  and  sec- 
ondly, by  his  cautioning  them  not  to  set  up  any 
monopoly  in  Paradise  and  its  mercies.  I  never 
heard  these  two  points  so  wisely  touched  (if,  in- 
deed, I  have  ever  heard  them  touched  at  all)  by 
any  preacher  of  that  kind  before. 

Having  passed  the  time  I  spent  in  Boston  in 
making  myself  acquainted  with  these  things,  in 
settling  the  course  I  should  take  in  my  future 
travels,  and  in  mixing  constantly  with  its  society, 
I  am  not  aware  that  I  have  any  occasion  to  prolong 
this  chapter.  Such  of  its  social  customs  as  I  have 
not  mentioned,  however,  may  be  told  in  a  very  few 
words. 

The  usual  dinner  hour  is  two  o'clock.     A  dinner- 


86  AMERICAN  NOTES 

party  takes  place  at  five ;  and  at  an  evening  party 
they  seldom  sup  later  than  eleven ;  so  that  it  goes 
hard  but  one  gets  home,  even  from  a  rout,  by  mid- 
night. I  never  could  find  out  any  difference  be- 
tween a  party  at  Boston  and  a  party  in  London, 
saving  that  at  the  former  place  all  assemblies  are 
held  at  more  rational  hours ;  that  the  conversation 
may  possibly  be  a  little  louder  and  more  cheerful ; 
that  a  guest  is  usually  expected  to  ascend  to  the 
very  top  of  the  house  to  take  his  cloak  off ;  that  he 
is  certain  to  see,  at  every  dinner,  an  unusual  amount 
of  poultry  on  the  table ;  and  at  every  supper,  at 
least  two  mighty  bowls  of  hot  stewed  oysters,  in 
any  one  of  which  a  half-grown  Duke  of  Clarence 
might  be  smothered  easily. 

There  are  two  theatres  in  Boston,  of  good  size 
and  construction,  but  sadly  in  want  of  patronage. 
The  few  ladies  who  resort  to  them  sit,  as  of  right, 
in  the  front  rows  of  the  boxes. 

The  bar  is  a  large  room  with  a  stone  floor,  and 
there  people  stand  and  smoke,  and  lounge  about,  all 
the  evening :  dropping  in  and  out  as  the  humor 
takes  them.  There,  too,  the  stranger  is  initiated 
into  the  mysteries  of  Gin-sling,  Cocktail,  Sangaree, 
Mint  Julep,  Sherry  Cobbler,  Timber  Doodle,  and 
other  rare  drinks.  The  house  is  full  of  boarders, 
both  married  and  single,  many  of  whom  sleep  upon 
the  premises,  and  contract  by  the  week  for  their 
board  and  lodging :  the  charge  for  which  diminishes 
as  they  go  nearer  the  sky  to  roost.  A  public  table 
is  laid  in  a  very  handsome  hall  for  breakfast,  and 
for  dinner,  and  for  supper.  The  party  sitting  down 
together  to  these  meals  will  vary  in  number  from 
one  to  two  hundred :  sometimes  more.  The  advent 


FOR   GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  87 

of  each  of  these  epochs  in  the  day  is  proclaimed  by 
an  awful  gong,  which  shakes  the  very  window 
frames  as  it  reverberates  through  the  house,  and 
horribly  disturbs  nervous  foreigners.  There  is  an 
ordinary  for  ladies,  and  an  ordinary  for  gentlemen. 
In  our  private  room  the  cloth  could  not,  for  any 
earthly  consideration,  have  been  laid  for  dinner 
without  a  huge  glass  dish  of  cranberries  in  the 
middle  of  the  table ;  and  breakfast  would  have  been 
no  breakfast  unless  the  principal  dish  were  a  de- 
formed beef-steak  with  a  great  flat  bone  in  the  cen- 
tre, swimming  in  hot  butter,  and  sprinkled  with  the 
very  blackest  of  all  possible  pepper.  Our  bedroom 
was  spacious  and  airy,  but  (like  every  bedroom  on 
this  side  of  the  Atlantic)  very  bare  of  furniture, 
having  no  curtains  to  the  French  bedstead  or  to  the 
window.  It  had  one  unusual  luxury,  however,  in 
the  shape  of  a  wardrobe  of  painted  wood,  something 
smaller  than  an  English  watch-box :  or,  if  this  com- 
parison should  be  insufficient  to  convey  a  just  idea 
of  its  dimensions,  they  may  be  estimated  from  the 
fact  of  my  having  lived  for  fourteen  days  and  nights 
in  the  firm  belief  that  it  was  a  shower-bath. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

AN   AMERICAN    RAILROAD.       LOWELL   AND    ITS    FAC- 
TORY  SYSTEM. 

BEFORE  leaving  Boston,  I  devoted  one  day  to  an 
excursion  to  Lowell.  I  assign  a  separate  chapter  to 
this  visit ;  not  because  I  am  about  to  describe  it  at 
any  great  length,  but  because  I  remember  it  as  a 
thing  by  itself,  and  am  desirous  that  my  readers 
should  do  the  same. 

I  made  acquaintance  with  an  American  railroad 
on  this  occasion,  for  the  first  time.  As  these  works 
are  pretty  much  alike  all  through  the  States,  their 
general  characteristics  are  easily  described. 

There  are  no  first  and  second  class  carriages  as 
with  us ;  but  there  is  a  gentlemen's  car  and  a  ladies' 
car :  the  main  distinction  between  which  is,  that  in 
the  first  everybody  smokes ;  and  in  the  second, 
nobody  does.  As  a  black  man  never  travels  with  a 
white  one,  there  is  also  a  negro  car ;  which  is  a 
great,  blundering,  clumsy  chest,  such  as  Gulliver 
put  to  sea  in  from  the  kingdom  of  Brobdingnag. 
There  is  a  great  deal  of  jolting,  a  great  deal  of  noise, 
a  great  deal  of  wall,  not  much  window,  a  locomotive 
engine,  a  shriek,  and  a  bell. 

The  cars  are  like  shabby  omnibuses,  but  larger: 


FOB   GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  89 

holding  thirty,  forty,  fifty  people.  The  seats,  in- 
stead of  stretching  from  end  to  end,  are  placed 
crosswise.  Each  seat  holds  two  persons.  There  is 
a  long  row  of  them  on  each  side  of  the  caravan,  a 
narrow  passage  up  the  middle,  and  a  door  at  both 
ends.  In  the  centre  of  the  carriage  there  is  usually 
a  stove,  fed  with  charcoal  or  anthracite  coal ;  which 
is  for  the  most  part  red-hot.  It  is  insufferably 
close ;  and  you  see  the  hot  air  fluttering  between 
yourself  and  any  other  object  you  may  happen  to 
look  at,  like  the  ghost  of  smoke. 

In  the  ladies'  car  there  are  a  great  many  gentle- 
men who  have  ladies  with  them.  There  are  also  a 
great  many  ladies  who  have  nobody  with  them :  for 
any  lady  may  travel  alone,  from  one  end  of  the 
United  States  to  the  other,  and  be  certain  of  the 
most  courteous  and  considerate  treatment  every- 
where. The  conductor,  or  check-taker,  or  guard,  or 
whatever  he  may  be,  wears  no  uniform.  He  walks 
up  and  down  the  car,  and  in  and  out  of  it,  as  his 
fancy  dictates ;  leans  against  the  door  with  his 
hands  in  his  pockets,  and  stares  at  you,  if  you 
chance  to  be  a  stranger ;  or  enters  into  conversation 
with  the  passengers  about  him.  A  great  many 
newspapers  are  pulled  out,  and  a  few  of  them  are 
read.  Everybody  talks  to  you,  or  to  anybody  else 
who  hits  his  fancy.  If  you  are  an  Englishman,  he 
expects  that  that  railroad  is  pretty  much  like  an 
English  railroad.  If  you  say  "No,"  he  says  "  Yes  ?" 
(interrogatively),  and  asks  in  what  respect  they 
differ.  You  enumerate  the  heads  of  difference,  one 
by  one,  and  he  says  "  Yes  ?  "  (still  interrogatively) 
to  each.  Then  he  guesses  that  you  don't  travel  fast- 
er in  England ;  and  on  your  replying  that  you  do, 


90  AMERICAN   NOTES 

says  "  Yes  ?  "  again  (still  interrogatively),  and,  it  is 
quite  evident,  don't  believe  it.  After  a  long  pause 
lie  remarks,  partly  to  you,  and  partly  to  the  knob 
on  the  top  of  his  stick,  that  "  Yankees  are  reckoned 
to  be  considerable  of  a  go-ahead  people  too ;  "  upon 
which  you  say  "  Yes,"  and  then  he  says  "  Yes  "  again 
(affirmatively  this  time)  ;  and  upon  your  looking  out 
of  window,  tells  you  that  behind  that  hill,  and  some 
three  miles  from  the  next  station,  there  is  a  clever 
town  in  a  smart  lo-ca-tion,  where  he  expects  you 
have  con-eluded  to  stop.  Your  answer  in  the  nega- 
tive naturally  leads  to  more  questions  in  reference 
to  your  intended  route  (always  pronounced  rout) ; 
and  wherever  you  are  going,  you  invariably  learn 
that  you  can't  get  there  without  immense  difficulty 
and  danger,  and  that  all  the  great  sights  are  some- 
where else. 

If  a  lady  take  a  fancy  to  any  male  passenger's 
seat,  the  gentleman  who  accompanies  her  gives  him 
notice  of  the  fact,  and  he  immediately  vacates  it 
with  great  politeness.  Politics  are  much  discussed ; 
so  are  banks,  so  is  cotton.  Quiet  people  avoid  the 
question  of  the  Presidency,  for  there  will  be  a  new 
election  in  three  years  and  a  half,  and  party  feeling 
runs  very  high :  the  great  constitutional  feature  of 
this  institution  being,  that  directly  the  acrimony  of 
the  last  election  is  over,  the  acrimony  of  the  next 
one  begins ;  which  is  an  unspeakable  comfort  to  all 
strong  politicians  and  true  lovers  of  their  country : 
that  is  to  say,  to  ninety-nine  men  and  boys  out  of 
every  ninety-nine  and  a  quarter. 

Except  when  a  branch  road  joins  the  main  one, 
there  is  seldom  more  than  one  track  of  rails ;  so  that 
the  road  is  very  narrow,  and  the  view,  where  there 


FOR   GENERAL   CIRCULATION.  91 

is  a  deep  cutting,  by  no  means  extensive.  When 
there  is  not,  the  character  of  the  scenery  is  always 
the  same.  Mile  after  mile  of  stunted  trees  :  some 
hewn  down  by  the  axe,  some  blown  down  by  the 
wind,  some  half  fallen  and  resting  on  their  neigh- 
bors, many  mere  logs  half  hidden  in  the  swamp, 
others  mouldered  away  to  spongy  chips.  The  very 
soil  of  the  earth  is  made  up  of  minute  fragments 
such  as  these  ;  each  pool  of  stagnant  water  has  its 
crust  of  vegetable  rottenness ;  on  every  side  there 
are  the  boughs,  and  trunks,  and  stumps  of  trees,  in 
every  possible  stage  of  decay,  decomposition,  and 
neglect.  Now  you  emerge  for  a  few  brief  minutes 
on  an  open  country,  glittering  with  some  bright 
lake  or  pool,  broad  as  many  an  English  river,  but 
so  small  here  that  it  scarcely  has  a  name;  now 
catch  hasty  glimpses  of  a  distant  town,  with  its 
clean  white  houses  and  their  cool  piazzas,  its  prim 
New  England  church  and  schoolhouse ;  when 
whir-r-r-r!  almost  before  you  have  seen  them, 
comes  the  same  dark  screen :  the  stunted  trees,  the 
stumps,  the  logs,  the  stagnant  water  —  all  so  like 
the  last  that  you  seem  to  have  been  transported 
back  again  by  magic. 

The  train  calls  at  stations  in  the  woods,  where 
the  wild  impossibility  of  anybody  having  the 
smallest  reason  to  get  out  is  only  to  be  equalled  by 
the  apparently  desperate  hopelessness  of  there  being 
anybody  to  get  in.  It  rushes  across  the  turnpike 
road,  where  there  is  no  gate,  no  policeman,  no  sig- 
nal :  nothing  but  a  rough  wooden  arch,  on  which  is 
painted  "WHEN  THE  BELL  RINGS,  LOOK  OUT  FOR 
THE  LOCOMOTIVE."  On  it  whirls  headlong,  dives 
through  the  woods  again,  emerges  in  the  light, 


92  AMERICAN  NOTES 

clatters  over  frail  arches,  rumbles  upon  the  heavy 
ground,  shoots  beneath  a  wooden  bridge  which  in- 
tercepts the  light  for  a  second  like  a  wink,  suddenly 
awakens  all  the  slumbering  echoes  in  the  main 
street  of  a  large  town,  and  dashes  on  hap-hazard, 
pell-mell,  neck  or  nothing,  down  the  middle  of  the 
road.  There  —  with  mechanics  working  at  their 
trades,  and  people  leaning  from  their  doors  and 
windows,  and  boys  flying  kites  and  playing  marbles, 
and  men  smoking,  and  women  talking,  and  children 
crawling,  and  pigs  burrowing,  and  unaccustomed 
horses  plunging  and  rearing,  close  to  the  very  rails 
—  there  —  on,  on,  on  —  tears  the  mad  dragon  of  an 
engine  with  its  train  of  cars ;  scattering  in  all  direc- 
tions a  shower  of  burning  sparks  from  its  wood  fire  ; 
screeching,  hissing,  yelling,  panting,  until  at  last 
the  thirsty  monster  stops  beneath  a  covered  way  to 
drink,  the  people  cluster  round,  and  you  have  time 
to  breathe  again. 

I  was  met  at  the  station  at  Lowell  by  a  gentle- 
man intimately  connected  with  the  management  of 
the  factories  there ;  and,  gladly  putting  myself  under 
his  guidance,  drove  off  at  once  to  that  quarter  of 
the  town  in  which  the  works,  the  object  of  my 
visit,  were  situated.  Although  only  just  of  age  — 
for,  if  my  recollection  serve  me,  it  has  been  a  man- 
ufacturing town  barely  one  and  twenty  years  — 
Lowell  is  a  large,  populous,  thriving  place.  Those 
indications  of  its  youth  which  first  attract  the  eye, 
give  it  a  quaintness  and  oddity  of  character  which, 
to  a  visitor  from  the  old  country,  is  amusing  enough. 
It  was  a  very  dirty  winter's  day,  and  nothing  in  the 
whole  town  looked  old  to  me,  except  the  mud, 
which  in  some  parts  was  almost  knee-deep,  and 


FOR   GENERAL   CIRCULATION.  93 

might  have  been  deposited  there  on  the  subsiding 
of  the  waters  after  the  Deluge.  In  one  place  there 
was  a  new  wooden  church,  which,  having  no  steeple, 
and  being  yet  unpainted,  looked  like  an  enormous 
packing-case  without  any  direction  upon  it.  In 
another  there  was  a  large  hotel,  whose  walls  and  col- 
onnades were  so  crisp,  and  thin,  and  slight,  that  it 
had  exactly  the  appearance  of  being  built  with  cards. 
I  was  careful  not  to  draw  my  breath  as  we  passed, 
and  trembled  when  I  saw  a  workman  come  out  upon 
the  roof,  lest  with  one  thoughtless  stamp  of  his  foot 
he  should  crush  the  structure  beneath  him,  and 
bring  it  rattling  down.  The  very  river  that  moves 
the  machinery  in  the  mills  (for  they  are  all  worked 
by  water  power)  seems  to  acquire  a  new  character 
from  the  fresh  buildings  of  bright  red  brick  and 
painted  wood  among  which  it  takes  its  course ;  and 
to  be  as  light-headed,  thoughtless,  and  brisk  a 
young  river,  in  its  murmurings  and  tumblings,  as 
one  would  desire  to  see.  One  would  swear  that 
every  "Bakery,"  "Grocery,"  and  " Bookbindery," 
and  other  kind  of  store  took  its  shutters  down  for 
the  first  time,  and  started  in  business  yesterday. 
The  golden  pestles  and  mortars  fixed  as  signs  upon 
the  sun-blind  frames  outside  the  Druggists'  appear 
to  have  been  just  turned  out  of  the  United  States 
Mint ;  and  when  I  saw  a  baby  of  some  week  or  ten 
days  old  in  a  woman's  arms  at  a  street  corner,  I 
found  myself  unconsciously  wondering  where  it 
came  from :  never  supposing  for  an  instant  that  it 
could  have  been  born  in  such  a  young  town  as 
that. 

There  are   several  factories   in  Lowell,  each  of 
which  belongs  to  what  we  should  term  a  Company 


94  AMERICAN  NOTES 

of  Proprietors,  but  what  they  call  in  America  a 
Corporation.  I  went  over  several  of  these ;  such  as 
a  woollen  factory,  a  carpet  factory,  and  a  cotton 
factory :  examined  them  in  every  part ;  and  saw 
them  in  their  ordinary  working  aspect,  with  no 
preparation  of  any  kind,  or  departure  from  their 
ordinary  every -day  proceedings.  I  may  add  that  I 
am  well  acquainted  with  our  manufacturing  towns 
in  England,  and  have  visited  many  mills  in  Man- 
chester and  elsewhere  in  the  same  manner. 

I  happened  to  arrive  at  the  first  factory  just  as 
the  dinner  hour  was  over,  and  the  girls  were  return- 
ing to  their  work;  indeed,  the  stairs  of  the  mill 
were  thronged  with  them  as  I  ascended.  They 
were  all  well  dressed,  but  not,  to  my  thinking, 
above  their  condition :  for  I  like  to  see  the  humbler 
classes  of  society  careful  of  their  dress  and  appear- 
ance, and  even,  if  they  please,  decorated  with  such 
little  trinkets  as  come  within  the  compass  of  their 
means.  Supposing  it  confined  within  reasonable 
limits,  I  would  always  encourage  this  kind  of  pride, 
as  a  worthy  element  of  self-respect,  in  any  person  I 
employed;  and  should  no  more  be  deterred  from 
doing  so,  because  some  wretched  female  referred 
her  fall  to  a  love  of  dress,  than  I  would  allow  my 
construction  of  the  real  intent  and  meaning  of  the 
Sabbath  to  be  influenced  by  any  warning  to  the 
well  disposed,  founded  on  his  backslidings  on  that 
particular  day,  which  might  emanate  from  the 
rather  doubtful  authority  of  a  murderer  in  New- 
gate. 

These  girls,  as  I  have  said,  were  all  well  dressed : 
and  that  phrase  necessarily  includes  extreme  clean- 
liness. They  had  serviceable  bonnets,  good  warm 


FOB   GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  95 

cloaks  and  shawls ;  and  were  not  above  clogs  and 
pattens.  Moreover,  there  were  places  in  the  mill  in 
which  they  could  deposit  these  things  without  in- 
jury ;  and  there  were  conveniences  for  washing. 
They  were  healthy  in  appearance,  many  of  them 
remarkably  so,  and  had  the  manners  and  deportment 
of  young  women :  not  of  degraded  brutes  of  burden. 
If  I  had  seen  in  one  of  those  mills  (but  I  did  not, 
though  I  looked  for  something  of  this  kind  with  a 
sharp  eye)  the  most  lisping,  mincing,  affected,  and 
ridiculous  young  creature  that  my  imagination  could 
suggest,  I  should  have  thought  of  the  careless, 
moping,  slatternly,  degraded,  dull  reverse  (I  have 
seen  that),  and  should  have  been  still  well  pleased 
to  look  upon  her. 

The  rooms  in  which  they  worked  were  as  well 
ordered  as  themselves.  In  the  windows  of  some 
there  were  green  plants,  which  were  trained  to 
shade  the  glass  ;  in  all,  there  was  as  much  fresh  air, 
cleanliness,  and  comfort  as  the  nature  of  the  occu- 
pation would  possibly  admit  of.  Out  of  so  large  a 
number  of  females,  many  of  whom  were  only  then 
just  verging  upon  womanhood,  it  may  be  reasonably 
supposed  that  some  were  delicate  and  fragile  in  ap- 
pearance :  no  doubt  there  were.  But  I  solemnly 
declare,  that  from  all  the  crowd  I  saw  in  the  differ- 
ent factories  that  day,  I  cannot  recall  or  separate 
one  young  face  that  gave  me  a  painful  impression ; 
not  one  young  girl  whom,  assuming  it  to  be  mat- 
ter of  necessity  that  she  should  gain  her  daily 
bread  by  the  labor  of  her  hands,  I  would  have  re- 
moved from  those  works  if  I  had  had  the  power. 

They  reside  in  various  boarding-houses  near  at 
hand.  The  owners  of  the  mills  are  particularly 


96  AMERICAN  NOTES 

careful  to  allow  no  persons  to  enter  upon  the 
possession  of  these  houses,  whose  characters  have 
not  undergone  the  most  searching  and  thorough 
inquiry.  Any  complaint  that  is  made  against  them 
by  the  boarders,  or  by  any  one  else,  is  fully  investi- 
gated ;  and  if  good  ground  of  complaint  be  shown 
to  exist  against  them,  they  are  removed,  and  their 
occupation  is  handed  over  to  some  more  deserving 
person.  There  are  a  few  children  employed  in 
these  factories,  but  not  many.  The  laws  of  the 
State  forbid  their  working  more  than  nine  months 
in  the  year,  and  require  that  they  be  educated 
during  the  other  three.  For  this  purpose  there  are 
schools  in  Lowell  ;  and  there  are  churches  and 
chapels  of  various  persuasions,  in  which  the  young 
women  may  observe  that  form  of  worship  in  which 
they  have  been  educated. 

At  some  distance  from  the  factories,  and  on  the 
highest  and  pleasantest  ground  in  the  neighborhood, 
stands  their  hospital,  or  boarding-house  for  the 
sick :  it  is  the  best  house  in  those  parts,  and  was 
built  by  an  eminent  merchant  for  his  own  residence. 
Like  that  institution  at  Boston,  which  I  have  before 
described,  it  is  not  parcelled  out  into  wards,  but 
is  divided  into  convenient  chambers,  each  of  which 
has  all  the  comforts  of  a  very  comfortable  home. 
The  principal  medical  attendant  resides  under  the 
same  roof;  and  were  the  patients  members  of  his 
own  family,  they  could  not  be  better  cared  for,  or 
attended  with  greater  gentleness  and  consideration. 
The  weekly  charge  in  this  establishment  for  each 
female  patient  is  three  dollars,  or  twelve  shillings 
English ;  but  no  girl  employed  by  any  of  the  cor- 
porations is  ever  excluded  for  want  of  the  means  of 


FOR   GENERAL   CIRCULATION.  97 

payment.  That  they  do  not  very  often  want  the 
means  may  be  gathered  from  the  fact,  that  in  July, 
1841,  no  fewer  than  nine  hundred  and  seventy-eight 
of  these  girls  were  depositors  in  the  Lowell  Savings 
Bank :  the  amount  of  whose  joint  savings  was  esti- 
mated at  one  hundred  thousand  dollars,  or  twenty 
thousand  English  pounds. 

I  am  now  going  to  state  three  facts,  which  will 
startle  a  large  class  of  readers  on  this  side  of  the 
Atlantic  very  much. 

Firstly,  there  is  a  joint-stock  piano  in  a  great 
many  of  the  boarding-houses.  Secondly,  nearly  all 
these  young  ladies  subscribe  to  circulating  libraries. 
Thirdly,  they  have  got  up  among  themselves  a 
periodical  called  THE  LOWELL  OFFERING,  "  a  repos- 
itory of  original  articles,  written  exclusively  by 
females  actively  employed  in  the  mills,"  —  which  is 
duly  printed,  published,  and  sold;  and  whereof  I 
brought  away  from  Lowell  four  hundred  good  solid 
pages,  which  I  have  read  from  beginning  to  end. 

The  large  class  of  readers,  startled  by  these  facts, 
will  exclaim,  with  one  voice,  "  How  very  preposter- 
ous ! "  On  my  deferentially  inquiring  why,  they 
will  answer,  "  These  things  are  above  their  station." 
In  reply  to  that  objection,  I  would  beg  to  ask  what 
their  station  is. 

It  is  their  station  to  work.  And  they  do  work. 
They  labor  in  these  mills,  upon  an  average,  twelve 
hours  a  day,  which  is  unquestionably  work,  and 
pretty  tight  work  too.  Perhaps  it  is  above  their 
station  to  indulge  in  such  amusements  on  any  terms. 
Are  we  quite  sure  that  we  in  England  have  not 
formed  our  ideas  of  the  "  station  "  of  working- 
people  from  accustoming  ourselves  to  the  contem- 
7 


98  AMERICAN  NOTES 

plation  of  that  class  as  they  are,  and  not  as  they 
might  be  ?  I  think  that,  if  we  examine  our  own 
feelings,  we  shall  find  that  the  pianos,  and  the 
circulating  libraries,  and  even  the  Lowell  Offering, 
startle  us  by  their  novelty,  and  not  by  their  bearing 
upon  any  abstract  question  of  right  or  wrong. 

For  myself,  I  know  no  station  in  which,  the  occu- 
pation of  to-day  cheerfully  done  and  the  occupation 
of  to-morrow  cheerfully  looked  to,  any  one  of  these 
pursuits  is  not  most  humanizing  and  laudable.  I 
know  no  station  which  is  rendered  more  endurable 
to  the  person  in  it,  or  more  safe  to  the  person  out 
of  it,  by  having  ignorance  for  its  associate.  I  know 
no  station  which  has  a  right  to  monopolize  the 
means  of  mutual  instruction,  improvement,  and 
rational  entertainment ;  or  which  has  ever  continued 
to  be  a  station  very  long  after  seeking  to  do  so. 

Of  the  merits  of  the  Lowell  Offering  as  a  literary 
production  I  will  only  observe,  putting  entirely  out 
of  sight  the  fact  of  the  articles  having  been  written 
by  these  girls  after  the  arduous  labors  of  the  day, 
that  it  will  compare  advantageously  with  a  great 
many  English  Annuals.  It  is  pleasant  to  find  that 
many  of  its  Tales  are  of  the  Mills,  and  of  those 
who  work  in  them;  that  they  inculcate  habits  of 
self-denial  and  contentment,  and  teach  good  doc- 
trines of  enlarged  benevolence.  A  strong  feeling 
for  the  beauties  of  nature,  as  displayed  in  the  soli- 
tudes the  writers  have  left  at  home,  breathes 
through  its  pages  like  wholesome  village  air;  and 
though  a  circulating  library  is  a  favorable  school 
for  the  study  of  such  topics,  it  has  very  scant  allu- 
sion to  fine  clothes,  fine  marriages,  fine  houses,  or 
fine  life.  Some  persons  might  object  to  the  papers 


FOR   GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  99 

being  signed  occasionally  with  rather  fine  names, 
but  this  is  an  American  fashion.  One  of  the 
provinces  of  the  State  Legislature  of  Massachusetts 
is  to  alter  ugly  names  into  pretty  ones,  as  the 
children  improve  upon  the  tastes  of  their  parents. 
These  changes  costing  little  or  nothing,  scores  of 
Mary  Annes  are  solemnly  converted  into  Bevelinas 
every  session. 

It  is  said  that  on  the  occasion  of  a  visit  from 
General  Jackson  or  General  Harrison  to  this  town 
(I  forget  which,  but  it  is  not  to  the  purpose),  he 
walked  through  three  miles  and  a  half  of  these 
young  ladies,  all  dressed  out  with  parasols  and  silk 
stockings.  But,  as  I  am  not  aware  that  any  worse 
consequence  ensued  than  a  sudden  looking-up  of  all 
the  parasols  and  silk  stockings  in  the  market ;  and 
perhaps  the  Bankruptcy  of  some  speculative  New 
Englander  who  bought  them  all  up  at  any  price,  in 
expectation  of  a  demand  that  never  came  ;  I  set  no 
great  store  by  the  circumstance. 

In  this  brief  account  of  Lowell,  and  inadequate 
expression  of  the  gratification  it  yielded  me,  and 
cannot  fail  to  afford  to  any  foreigner  to  whom  the 
condition  of  such  people  at  home  is  a  subject  of 
interest  and  anxious  speculation,  I  have  carefully 
abstained  from  drawing  a  comparison  between  these 
factories  and  those  of  our  own  land.  Many  of  the 
circumstances  whose  strong  influence  has  been  at 
work  for  years  in  our  manufacturing  towns  have 
not  arisen  here;  and  there  is  no  manufacturing 
population  in  Lowell,  so  to  speak:  for  these  girls 
(often  the  daughters  of  small  farmers)  come  from 
other  States,  remain  a  few  years  in  the  mills,  and 
then  go  home  for  good. 


100  AMERICAN  NOTES. 

The  contrast  would  be  a  strong  one,  for  it  would 
be  between  the  Good  and  Evil,  the  living  light  and 
deepest  shadow.  I  abstain  from  it,  because  I  deem 
it  just  to  do  so.  But  I  only  the  more  earnestly 
adjure  all  those  whose  eyes  may  rest  on  these  pages, 
to  pause  and  reflect  upon  the  difference  between 
this  town  and  those  great  haunts  of  desperate 
misery :  to  call  to  mind,  if  they  can  in  the  midst  of 
party  strife  and  squabble,  the  efforts  that  must  be 
made  to  purge  them  of  their  suffering  and  danger : 
and  last,  and  foremost,  to  remember  how  the 
precious  Time  is  rushing  by. 

I  returned  at  night  by  the  same  railroad,  and  in 
the  same  kind  of  car.  One  of  the  passengers  being 
exceedingly  anxious  to  expound  at  great  length  to 
my  companion  (not  to  me,  of  course)  the  true 
principles  on  which  books  of  travel  in  America 
should  be  written  by  Englishmen,  I  feigned  to  fall 
asleep.  But,  glancing  all  the  way  out  at  window 
from  the  corners  of  my  eyes,  I  found  abundance  of 
entertainment  for  the  rest  of  the  ride  in  watching 
the  effects  of  the  wood  fire,  which  had  been  invisi- 
ble in  the  morning,  but  were  now  brought  out  in 
full  relief  by  the  darkness ;  for  we  were  travelling 
in  a  whirlwind  of  bright  sparks,  which  showered 
about  us  like  a  storm  of  fiery  snow. 


CHAPTEK  V. 

WORCESTER.       THE    CONNECTICUT  RIVER.      HARTFORD. 
NEW    HAVEN   TO    NEW   YORK. 

LEAVING  Boston  on  the  afternoon  of  Saturday, 
the  fifth  of  February,  we  proceeded  by  another  rail- 
road to  Worcester :  a  pretty  New  England  town, 
where  we  had  arranged  to  remain  under  the  hospi- 
table roof  of  the  Governor  of  the  State  until  Monday 
morning. 

These  towns  and  cities  of  New  England  (many  of 
which  would  be  villages  in  Old  England)  are  as 
favorable  specimens  of  rural  America  as  their  people 
are  of  rural  Americans.  The  well-trimmed  lawns 
and  green  meadows  of  home  are  not  there ;  and  the 
grass,  compared  with  our  ornamental  plots  and 
pastures,  is  rank,  and  rough,  and  wild  :  but  delicate 
slopes  of  land,  gently  swelling  hills,  wooded  valleys, 
and  slender  streams  abound.  Every  little  colony  of 
houses  has  its  church  and  schoolhouse  peeping  from 
among  the  white  roofs  and  shady  trees ;  every  house 
is  the  whitest  of  the  white ;  every  Venetian  blind 
the  greenest  of  the  green ;  every  fine  day's  sky  the 
bluest  of  the  blue.  A  sharp  dry  wind  and  a  slight 
frost  had  so  hardened  the  roads  when  we  alighted 
at  Worcester,  that  their  furrowed  tracks  were  like 
101 


102  AMERICAN   NOTES 

ridges  of  granite.  There  was  the  usual  aspect  of 
newness  on  every  object,  of  course.  All  the  build- 
ings looked  as  if  they  had  been  built  and  painted 
that  morning,  and  could  be  taken  down  on  Monday 
with  very  little  trouble.  In  the  keen  evening  air, 
every  sharp  outline  looked  a  hundred  times  sharper 
'than  ever.  The  clean  cardboard  colonnades  had  no 
more  perspective  than  a  Chinese  bridge  on  a  teacup, 
and  appeared  equally  well  calculated  for  use.  The 
razor-like  edges  of  the  detached  cottages  seemed  to 
cut  the  very  wind  as  it  whistled  against  them,  and 
to  send  it  smarting  on  its  way  with  a  shriller  cry 
than  before.  Those  slightly  built  wooden  dwellings, 
behind  which  the  sun  was  setting  with  a  brilliant 
lustre,  could  be  so  looked  through  and  through,  that 
the  idea  of  any  inhabitant  being  able  to  hide  him- 
self from  the  public  gaze,  or  to  have  any  secrets 
from  the  public  eye,  was  not  entertainable  for  a 
moment.  Even  where  a  blazing  fire  shone  through 
the  uncurtained  windows  of  some  distant  house,  it 
had  the  air  of  being  newly  lighted,  and  of  lacking 
warmth ;  and  instead  of  awakening  thoughts  of  a 
snug  chamber,  bright  with  faces  that  first  saw  the 
light  round  that  same  hearth,  and  ruddy  with  warm 
hangings,  it  came  upon  one  suggestive  of  the  smell 
of  new  mortar  and  damp  walls. 

So  I  thought,  at  least,  that  evening.  Next  morn- 
ing, when  the  sun  was  shining  brightly,  and  the 
clear  church  bells  were  ringing,  and  sedate  people 
in  their  best  clothes  enlivened  the  pathway  near  at 
hand,  and  dotted  the  distant  thread  of  road,  there 
was  a  pleasant  Sabbath  peacefulness  on  everything 
which  it  was  good  to  feel.  It  would  have  been  the 
better  for  an  old  church ;  better  still  for  some  old 


FOR   GENERAL   CIRCULATION.  103 

graves ;  but,  as  it  was,  a  wholesome  repose  and  tran- 
quillity pervaded  the  scene,  which,  after  the  restless 
ocean  and  the  hurried  city,  had  a  doubly  grateful 
influence  on  the  spirits. 

We  went  on  next  morning,  still  by  railroad,  to 
Springfield.  From  that  place  to  Hartford,  whither 
we  were  bound,  is  a  distance  of  only  five  and  twenty 
miles,  but  at  that  time  of  the  year  the  roads  were 
so  bad  that  the  journey  would  probably  have  occu- 
pied ten  or  twelve  hours.  Fortunately,  however, 
the  winter  having  been  unusually  mild,  the  Connec- 
ticut River  was  "open,"  or,  in  other  words,  not 
frozen.  The  captain  of  a  small  steamboat  was  going 
to  make  his  first  trip  for  the  season  that  day  (the 
second  February  trip,  I  believe,  within  the  memory 
of  man),  and  only  waited  for  us  to  go  on  board. 
Accordingly,  we  went  on  board  with  as  little  delay 
as  might  be.  He  was  as  good  as  his  word,  and 
started  directly. 

It  certainly  was  not  called  a  small  steamboat  with- 
out reason.  I  omitted  to  ask  the  question,  but  I 
should  think  it  must  have  been  of  about  half  a  pony 
power.  Mr.  Paap,  the  celebrated  Dwarf,  might  have 
lived  and  died  happily  in  the  cabin,  which  was  fitted 
with  common  sash-windows  like  an  ordinary  dwell- 
ing-house. These  windows  had  bright  red  curtains, 
too,  hung  on  slack  strings  across  the  lower  panes ; 
so  that  it  looked  like  the  parlor  of  a  Lilliputian 
public-house,  which  had  got  afloat  in  a  flood  or  some 
other  water  accident,  and  was  drifting  nobody  knew 
where.  But  even  in  this  chamber  there  was  a 
rocking-chair.  It  would  be  impossible  to  get  on 
anywhere,  in  America,  without  a  rocking-chair. 

I  am  afraid  to  tell  how  many  feet  short  this  vessel 


104  AMERICAN  NOTES 

was,  or  how  many  feet  narrow  ;  to  apply  the  words 
length  and  width  to  such  measurement  would  be  a 
contradiction  in  terms.  But  I  may  state  that  we  all 
kept  the  middle  of  the  deck,  lest  the  boat  should 
unexpectedly  tip  over :  and  that  the  machinery,  by 
some  surprising  process  of  condensation,  worked 
between  it  and  the  keel :  the  whole  forming  a 
warm  sandwich,  about  three  feet  thick. 

It  rained  all  day,  as  I  once  thought  it  never  did 
rain  anywhere  but  in  the  Highlands  of  Scotland. 
The  river  was  full  of  floating  blocks  of  ice,  which 
were  constantly  crunching  and  cracking  under  us ; 
and  the  depth  of  water,  in  the  course  we  took  to 
avoid  the  larger  masses,  carried  down  the  middle  of 
the  river  by  the  current,  did  not  exceed  a  few  inches. 
Nevertheless,  we  moved  onward  dexterously;  and, 
being  well  wrapped  up,  bade  defiance  to  the  weather, 
and  enjoyed  the  journey.  The  Connecticut  River 
is  a  fine  stream;  and  the  banks  in  summer-time 
are,  I  have  no  doubt,  beautiful :  at  all  events,  I  was 
told  so  by  a  young  lady  in  the  cabin ;  and  she  should 
be  a  judge  of  beauty,  if  the  possession  of  a  quality 
include  the  appreciation  of  it,  for  a  more  beautiful 
creature  I  never  looked  upon. 

After  two  hours  and  a  half  of  this  odd  travelling 
(including  a  stoppage  at  a  small  town,  where  we 
were  saluted  by  a  gun  considerably  bigger  than  our 
own  chimney),  we  reached  Hartford,  and  straight- 
way repaired  to  an  extremely  comfortable  hotel : 
except,  as  usual,  in  the  article  of  bedrooms,  which, 
in  almost  every  place  we  visited,  were  very  condu- 
cive to  early  rising. 

We  tarried  here  four  days.  The  town  is  beauti- 
fully situated  in  a  basin  of  green  hills;  the  soil  is 


FOR   GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  105 

rich,  well  wooded,  and  carefully  improved.  It  is  the 
seat  of  the  local  legislature  of  Connecticut,  which 
sage  body  enacted,  in  bygone  times,  the  renowned 
code  of  "Blue  Laws,"  in  virtue  whereof,  among 
other  enlightened  provisions,  any  citizen  who  could 
be  proved  to  have  kissed  his  wife  on  Sunday  was 
punishable,  I  believe,  with  the  stocks.  Too  much 
of  the  old  Puritan  spirit  exists  in  these  parts  to  the 
present  hour ;  but  its  influence  has  not  tended,  that 
I  know,  to  make  the  people  less  hard  in  their  bar- 
gains, or  more  equal  in  their  dealings.  As  I  never 
heard  of  its  working  that  effect  anywhere  else,  I 
infer  that  it  never  will  here.  Indeed,  I  am  accus- 
tomed, with  reference  to  great  professions  and  severe 
faces,  to  judge  of  the  goods  of  the  other  world 
pretty  much  as  I  judge  of  the  goods  of  this ;  and 
whenever  I  see  a  dealer  in  such  commodities  with 
too  great  a  display  of  them  in  his  window,  I  doubt 
the  quality  of  the  article  within. 

In  Hartford  stands  the  famous  oak  in  which  the 
charter  of  King  Charles  was  hidden.  It  is  now 
enclosed  in  a  gentleman's  garden.  In  the  State 
House  is  the  charter  itself.  I  found  the  courts  of 
law  here  just  the  same  as  at  Boston ;  the  public 
Institutions  almost  as  good.  The  Insane  Asylum 
is  admirably  conducted,  and  so  is  the  Institution  for 
the  Deaf  and  Dumb. 

I  very  much  questioned  within  myself,  as  I  walked 
through  the  Insane  Asylum,  whether  I  should  have 
known  the  attendants  from  the  patients,  but  for  the 
few  words  which  passed  between  the  former  and 
the  Doctor,  in  reference  to  the  persons  under  their 
charge.  Of  course  I  limit  this  remark  merely  to 
their  looks  ;  for  the  conversation  of  the  mad  people 
was  mad  enough. 


106  AMEEICAN  NOTES 

There  was  one  little  prim  old  lady,  of  very  smil- 
ing and  good-humored  appearance,  who  came  sidling 
up  to  me  from  the  end  of  a  long  passage,  and, 
with  a  courtesy  of  inexpressible  condescension,  pro- 
pounded this  unaccountable  inquiry : 

"  Does  Pontefract  still  flourish,  sir,  upon  the  soil 
of  England?" 

"  He  does,  ma'am,"  I  rejoined. 

"  When  you  last  saw  him,  sir,  he  was  —  " 

"Well,  ma'am,"  said  I,  "extremely  well.  He 
begged  me  to  present  his  compliments.  I  never 
saw  him  looking  better." 

At  this  the  old  lady  was  very  much  delighted. 
After  glancing  at  me  for  a  moment,  as  if  to  be  quite 
sure  that  I  was  serious  in  my  respectful  air,  she 
sidled  back  some  paces ;  sidled  forward  again ; 
made  a  sudden  skip  (at  which  I  precipitately  re- 
treated a  step  or  two)  ;  and  said,  — 

"  /  am  an  antediluvian,  sir." 

I  thought  the  best  thing  to  say  was,  that  I  had 
suspected  as  much  from  the  first.  Therefore  I 
said  so. 

"It  is  an  extremely  proud  and  pleasant  thing, 
sir,  to  be  an  antediluvian,"  said  the  old  lady. 

"  I  should  think  it  was,  ma'am,"  I  rejoined. 

The  old  lady  kissed  her  hand,  gave  another  skip, 
smirked,  and  sidled  down  the  gallery  in  a  most 
extraordinary  manner,  and  ambled  gracefully  into 
her  own  bedchamber. 

In  another  part  of  the  building  there  was  a  male 
patient  in  bed ;  very  much  flushed  and  heated. 

"  Well !  "  said  he,  starting  up,  and  pulling  off  his 
nightcap :  "  it's  all  settled  at  last.  I  have  arranged 
it  with  Queen  Victoria." 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  107 

"  Arranged  what  ?  "  asked  the  Doctor. 

"  Why,  that  business,"  passing  his  hand  wearily 
across  his  forehead,  "about  the  siege  of  New  York." 

"  Oh ! "  said  I,  like  a  man  suddenly  enlightened. 
For  he  looked  at  me  for  an  answer. 

"  Yes.  Every  house  without  a  signal  will  be 
fired  upon  by  the  British  troops.  No  harm  will  be 
done  to  the  others.  No  harm  at  all.  Those  that 
want  to  be  safe  must  hoist  flags.  That's  all  they'll 
have  to  do.  They  must  hoist  flags." 

Even  while  he  was  speaking  he  seemed,  I  thought, 
to  have  some  faint  idea  that  his  talk  was  incoherent. 
Directly  he  had  said  these  words,  he  lay  down 
again ;  gave  a  kind  of  groan ;  and  covered  his  hot 
head  with  the  blankets. 

There  was  another :  a  young  man  whose  madness 
was  love  and  music.  After  playing  on  the  accordion 
a  march  he  had  composed,  he  was  very  anxious  that 
I  should  walk  into  his  chamber,  which  I  immediately 
did. 

By  way  of  being  very  knowing,  and  humoring 
him  to  the  top  of  his  bent,  I  went  to  the  window, 
which  commanded  a  beautiful  prospect,  and  re- 
marked, with  an  address  upon  which  I  greatly 
plumed  myself,  — 

"  What  a  delicious  country  you  have  about  these 
lodgings  of  yours  ! " 

"  Poh ! "  said  he,  moving  his  fingers  carelessly 
over  the  notes  of  his  instrument.  "Well  enough, 
for  such  an  Institution  as  this  !  " 

I  don't  think  I  was  ever  so  taken  aback  in  all  my 
life. 

"I  come  here  just  for  a  whim,"  he  said  coolly. 
"That's  all." 


108  AMERICAN  NOTES 

"Oh!     That's  all!"   said  I. 

"Yes.  That's  all.  The  Doctor's  a  smart  man. 
He  quite  enters  into  it.  It's  a  joke  of  mine.  I 
like  it  for  a  time.  You  needn't  mention  it,  but  I 
think  I  shall  go  out  next  Tuesday ! " 

I  assured  him  that  I  would  consider  our  interview 
perfectly  confidential :  and  rejoined  the  Doctor.  As 
we  were  passing  through  a  gallery  on  our  way  out, 
a  well-dressed  lady,  of  quiet  and  composed  manners, 
came  up,  and,  proffering  a  slip  of  paper  and  a  pen, 
begged  that  I  would  oblige  her  with  an  autograph. 
I  complied,  and  we  parted. 

"  I  think  I  remember  having  had  a  few  interviews 
like  that  with  ladies  out  of  doors.  I  hope  she  is 
not  mad  ?  " 

"Yes." 

"  On  what  subject  ?     Autographs  ?  " 

"No.     She  hears  voices  in  the  air." 

"Well!"  thought  I,  "it  would  be  well  if  we 
could  shut  up  a  few  false  prophets  of  these  later 
times,  who  have  professed  to  do  the  same ;  and  I 
should  like  to  try  the  experiment  on  a  Mormonist 
or  two  to  begin  with." 

In  this  place  there  is  the  best  Jail  for  untried 
offenders  in  the  world.  There  is  also  a  very  well- 
ordered  State  prison,  arranged  upon  the  same  plan 
as  that  at  Boston,  except  that  here  there  is  always 
a  sentry  on  the  wall  with  a  loaded  gun.  It  con- 
tained at  that  time  about  two  hundred  prisoners. 
A  spot  was  shown  me  in  the  sleeping  ward,  where  a 
watchman  was  murdered  some  years  since  in  the 
dead  of  night,  in  a  desperate  attempt  to  escape 
made  by  a  prisoner  who  had  broken  from  his  cell. 
A  woman,  too,  was  pointed  out  to  me,  who,  for  the 


FOR   GENERAL   CIRCULATION.  109 

murder  of  her  husband,  had  been  a  close  prisoner 
for  sixteen  years. 

"  Do  you  think,"  I  asked  of  my  conductor,  "  that 
after  so  very  long  an  imprisonment,  she  has  any 
thought  or  hope  of  ever  regaining  her  liberty  ?  " 

"Oh  dear  yes!"  he  answered.  "To  be  sure 
she  has." 

"  She  has  no  chance  of  obtaining  it,  I  suppose  ?  " 

"  Well,  I  don't  know : "  which,  by  the  by,  is  a 
national  answer.  "  Her  friends  mistrust  her." 

"  What  have  they  to  do  with  it  ? "  I  naturally 
inquired. 

"Well,  they  won't  petition." 

"But  if  they  did,  they  couldn't  get  her  out,  I 
suppose  ?  " 

"Well,  not  the  first  time,  perhaps,  nor  yet  the 
second,  but  tiring  and  wearying  for  a  few  years 
might  do  it." 

"  Does  that  ever  do  it  ?  " 

"Why,  yes,  that'll  do  it  sometimes.  Political 
friends  '11  do  it  sometimes.  It's  pretty  often  done, 
one  way  or  another." 

I  shall  always  entertain  a  very  pleasant  and 
grateful  recollection  of  Hartford.  It  is  a  lovely 
place,  and  I  had  many  friends  there,  whom  I  never 
can  remember  with  indifference.  We  left  it  with 
no  little  regret  on  the  evening  of  Friday  the  llth, 
and  travelled  that  night  by  railroad  to  New  Haven. 
Upon  the  way,  the  guard  and  I  were  formally  in- 
troduced to  each  other  (as  we  usually  were  on  such 
occasions),  and  exchanged  a  variety  of  small  talk. 
We  reached  New  Haven  at  about  eight  o'clock,  after 
a  journey  of  three  hours,  and  put  up  for  the  night 
at  the  best  inn. 


110  AMERICAN  NOTES 

New  Haven,  known  also  as  the  City  of  Elms,  is  a 
fine  town.  Many  of  its  streets  (as  its  alias  suffi- 
ciently imports)  are  planted  with  rows  of  grand  old 
elm-trees ;  and  the  same  natural  ornaments  surround 
Yale  College,  an  establishment  of  considerable  emi- 
nence and  reputation.  The  various  departments  of 
this  Institution  are  erected  in  a  kind  of  park  or 
common  in  the  middle  of  the  town,  where  they  are 
dimly  visible  among  the  shadowing  trees.  The 
effect  is  very  like  that  of  an  old  cathedral  yard  in 
England ;  and,  when  their  branches  are  in  full  leaf, 
must  be  extremely  picturesque.  Even  in  the  winter- 
time, these  groups  of  well-grown  trees,  clustering 
among  the  busy  streets  and  houses  of  a  thriving 
city,  have  a  very  quaint  appearance  :  seeming  to 
bring  about  a  kind  of  compromise  between  town 
and  country ;  as  if  each  had  met  the  other  half-way, 
and  shaken  hands  upon  it  j  which  is  at  once  novel 
and  pleasant. 

After  a  night's  rest,  we  rose  early,  and  in  good 
time  went  down  to  the  wharf,  and  on  board  the 
packet  New  York  for  New  York.  This  was  the 
first  American  steamboat  of  any  size  that  I  had 
seen :  and  certainly,  to  an  English  eye,  it  was  in- 
finitely less  like  a  steamboat  than  a  huge  floating 
bath.  I  could  hardly  persuade  myself,  indeed,  but 
that  the  bathing  establishment  of  Westminster 
Bridge,  which  I  left  a  baby,  had  suddenly  grown  to 
an  enormous  size ;  run  away  from  home ;  and  set  up 
in  foreign  parts  as  a  steamer.  Being  in  America, 
too,  which  our  vagabonds  do  so  particularly  favor, 
it  seemed  the  more  probable. 

The  great  difference  in  appearance  between  these 
packets  and  ours  is,  that  there  is  so  much  of  them 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  Ill 

out  of  the  water :  the  main  deck  being  enclosed  on 
all  sides,  and  filled  with  casks  and  goods,  like  any 
second  or  third  floor  in  a  stack  of  warehouses  ;  and 
the  promenade  or  hurricane  deck  being  atop  of  that 
again.  A  part  of  the  machinery  is  always  above 
this  deck ;  where  the  connecting-rod,  in  a  strong 
and  lofty  frame,  is  seen  working  away  like  an  iron 
top-sawyer.  There  is  seldom  any  mast  or  tackle : 
nothing  aloft  but  two  tall  black  chimneys.  The 
man  at  the  helm  is  shut  up  in  a  little  house  in  the 
fore  part  of  the  boat  (the  wheel  being  connected 
with  the  rudder  by  iron  chains,  working  the  whole 
length  of  the  deck)  ;  and  the  passengers,  unless  the 
weather  be  very  fine  indeed,  usually  congregate 
below.  Directly  you  have  left  the  wharf,  all  the 
life,  and  stir,  and  bustle  of  a  packet  cease.  You 
wonder  for  a  long  time  how  she  goes  on,  for  there 
seems  to  be  nobody  in  charge  of  her ;  and  when 
another  of  these  dull  machines  comes  splashing  by, 
you  feel  quite  indignant  with  it,  as  a  sullen,  cum- 
brous, ungraceful,  unshiplike  leviathan :  quite  for- 
getting that  the  vessel  you  are  on  board  of  is  its 
very  counterpart. 

There  is  always  a  clerk's  office  on  the  lower  deck, 
where  you  pay  your  fare ;  a  ladies'  cabin  ;  baggage 
and  stowage  rooms  ;  engineer's  room ;  and,  in  short, 
a  great  variety  of  perplexities  which  render  the 
discovery  of  the  gentlemen's  cabin  a  matter  of 
some  difficulty.  It  often  occupies  the  whole  length 
of  the  boat  (as  it  did  in  this  case),  and  has  three  or 
four  tiers  of  berths  on  each  side.  When  I  first 
descended  into  the  cabin  of  the  New  York,  it  looked, 
in  my  unaccustomed  eyes,  about  as  long  as  the  Bur- 
lington Arcade. 


112  AMERICAN  NOTES 

The  Sound,  which  has  to  be  crossed  on  this  pass- 
age, is  not  always  a  very  safe  or  pleasant  naviga- 
tion, and  has  been  the  scene  of  some  unfortunate 
accidents.  It  was  a  wet  morning,  and  very  misty, 
and  we  soon  lost  sight  of  land.  The  day  was  calm, 
however,  and  brightened  towards  noon.  After  ex- 
hausting (with  good  help  from  a  friend)  the  larder, 
and  the  stock  of  bottled  beer,  I  lay  down  to  sleep  : 
being  very  much  tired  with  the  fatigues  of  yester- 
day. But  I  awoke  from  my  nap  in  time  to  hurry 
up,  and  see  Hell  Gate,  the  Hog's  Back,  the  Frying 
Pan,  and  other  notorious  localities,  attractive  to  all 
readers  of  famous  Diedrich  Knickerbocker's  His- 
tory. We  were  now  in  a  narrow  channel,  with  slop- 
ing banks  on  either  side,  besprinkled  with  pleasant 
villas,  and  made  refreshing  to  the  sight  by  turf  and 
trees.  Soon  we  shot,  in  quick  succession,  past  a 
lighthouse :  a  madhouse  (how  the  lunatics  flung  up 
their  caps  and  roared  in  sympathy  with  the  head- 
long engine  and  the  driving  tide !)  ;  a  jail ;  and 
other  buildings :  and  so  emerged  into  a  noble  bay, 
whose  waters  sparkled  in  the  now  cloudless  sunshine 
like  Nature's  eyes  turned  up  to  Heaven. 

Then  there  lay  stretched  out  before  us,  to  the 
right,  confused  heaps  of  buildings,  with  here  and 
there  a  spire  or  steeple,  looking  down  upon  the 
herd  below;  and  here  and  there,  again,  a  cloud  of 
lazy  smoke  ;  and  in  the  foreground  a  forest  of  ships' 
masts,  cheery  with  flapping  sails  and  waving  flags. 
Crossing  from  among  them  to  the  opposite  shore, 
were  steam  ferry-boats  laden  with  people,  coaches, 
horses,  wagons,  baskets,  boxes  :  crossed  and  recrossed 
by  other  ferry-boats :  all  travelling  to  and  fro :  and 
never  idle.  Stately  among  these  restless  Insects 


FOR   GENERAL   CIRCULATION.  113 

were  two  or  three  large  ships,  moving  with  slow 
majestic  pace,  as  creatures  of  a  prouder  kind,  dis- 
dainful of  their  puny  journeys,  and  making  for 
the  broad  sea.  Beyond  were  shining  heights,  and 
islands  in  the  glancing  river,  and  a  distance  scarcely 
less  blue  and  bright  than  the  sky  it  seemed  to  meet. 
The  city's  hum  and  buzz,  the  clinking  of  capstans, 
the  ringing  of  bells,  the  barking  of  dogs,  the  clat- 
tering of  wheels,  tingled  in  the  listening  ear.  All 
of  which  life  and  stir,  coming  across  the  stirring 
water,  caught  new  life  and  animation  from  its  free 
companionship  ;  and,  sympathizing  with  its  buoyant 
spirits,  glistened  as  it  seemed  in  sport  upon  its  sur- 
face, and  hemmed  the  vessel  round,  and  plashed  the 
water  high  about  her  sides,  and,  floating  her  gal- 
lantly into  the  dock,  flew  off  again  to  welcome  other 
comers,  and  speed  before  them  to  the  busy  port. 


CHAPTER  VL 

NEW   YORK. 

THE  beautiful  metropolis  of  America  is  by  no 
means  so  clean  a  city  as  Boston,  but  many  of  its 
streets  have  the  same  characteristics ;  except  that 
the  houses  are  not  quite  so  fresh-colored,  the  sign- 
boards are  not  quite  so  gaudy,  the  gilded  letters  not 
quite  so  golden,  the  bricks  not  quite  so  red,  the 
stone  not  quite  so  white,  the  blinds  and  area  rail- 
ings not  quite  so  green,  the  knobs  and  plates  upon 
the  street-doors  not  quite  so  bright  and  twinkling. 
There  are  many  by-streets,  almost  as  neutral  in 
clean  colors,  and  positive  in  dirty  ones,  as  by-streets 
in  London ;  and  there  is  one  quarter,  commonly 
called  the  Five  Points,  which,  in  respect  of  filth 
and  wretchedness,  may  be  safely  backed  against 
Seven  Dials,  or  any  other  part  of  famed  St.  Giles's. 

The  great  promenade  and  thoroughfare,  as  most 
people  know,  is  Broadway;  a  wide  and  bustling 
street,  which,  from  the  Battery  Gardens  to  its  oppo- 
site termination  'in  a  country  road,  may  be  four 
miles  long.  Shall  we  sit  down  in  an  upper  floor  of 
the  Carlton  House  Hotel  (situated  in  the  best  part 
of  this  main  artery  of  New  York),  and,  when  we 
are  tired  of  looking  down  upon  the  life  below,  sally 
forth  arm  in  arm,  and  mingle  with  the  stream  ? 

114 


AMERICAN   NOTES.  115 

Warm  weather  !  The  sun  strikes  upon  our  heads, 
at  this  open  window,  as  though  its  rays  were  con- 
centrated through  a  burning-glass ;  but  the  day  is 
in  its  zenith,  and  the  season  an  unusual  one.  Was 
there  ever  such  a  sunny  street  as  this  Broadway  ? 
The  pavement  stones  are  polished  with  the  tread  of 
feet  until  they  shine  again ;  the  red  bricks  of  the 
houses  might  be  yet  in  the  dry,  hot  kilns ;  and  the 
roofs  of  those  omnibuses  look  as  though,  if  water 
were  poured  on  them,  they  would  hiss  and  smoke, 
and  smell  like  half-quenched  fires.  No  stint  of 
omnibuses  here !  Half  a  dozen  have  gone  by  within 
as  many  minutes.  Plenty  of  hackney  cabs  and 
coaches,  too  ;  gigs,  phaetons,  large-wheeled  tilburies, 
and  private  carriages  —  rather  of  a  clumsy  make, 
and  not  very  different  from  the  public  vehicles,  but 
built  for  the  heavy  roads  beyond  the  city  pavement. 
Negro  coachmen  and  white ;  in  straw  hats,  black 
hats,  white  hats,  glazed  caps,  fur  caps ;  in  coats  of 
drab,  black,  brown,  green,  blue,  nankeen,  striped 
jean  and  linen  ;  and  there,  in  that  one  instance  (look 
while  it  passes,  or  it  will  be  too  late),  in  suits  of 
livery.  Some  Southern  republican  that,  who  puts 
his  blacks  in  uniform,  and  swells  with  Sultan  pomp 
and  power.  Yonder,  where  that  phaeton  with  the 
well-clipped  pair  of  grays  has  stopped  —  standing 
at  their  heads  now  —  is  a  Yorkshire  groom,  who 
has  not  been  very  long  in  these  parts,  and  looks  sor- 
rowfully round  for  a  companion  pair  of  top-boots, 
which  he  may  traverse  the  city  half  a  year  without 
meeting.  Heaven  save  the  ladies,  how  they  dress  ! 
We  have  seen  more  colors  in  these  ten  minutes  than 
we  should  have  seen  elsewhere  in  as  many  days. 
What  various  parasols !  what  rainbow  silks  and 


116  AMERICAN  NOTES 

satins !  what  pinking  of  thin  stockings,  and  pinch- 
ing of  thin  shoes,  and  fluttering  of  ribbons  and  silk 
tassels,  and  display  of  rich  cloaks  with  gaudy  hoods 
and  linings  !  The  young  gentlemen  are  fond,  you 
see,  of  turning  down  their  shirt  collars  and  culti- 
vating their  whiskers,  especially  under  the  chin; 
but  they  cannot  approach  the  ladies  in  their  dress 
or  bearing,  being,  to  say  the  truth,  humanity  of 
quite  another  sort.  Byrons  of  the  desk  and  counter, 
pass  on,  and  let  us  see  what  kind  of  men  those  are 
behind  ye :  those  two  laborers  in  holiday  clothes,  of 
whom  one  carries  in  his  hand  a  crumpled  scrap  of 
paper  from  which  he  tries  to  spell  out  a  hard  name, 
while  the  other  looks  about  for  it  on  all  the  doors 
and  windows. 

Irishmen  both !  You  might  know  them,  if  they 
were  masked,  by  their  long-tailed  blue  coats  and 
bright  buttons,  and  their  drab  trousers,  which  they 
wear  like  men  well  used  to  working  dresses,  who  are 
easy  in  no  others.  It  would  be  hard  to  keep  your 
model  republics  going  without  the  countrymen  and 
countrywomen  of  those  two  laborers.  For  who  else 
would  dig,  and  delve,  and  drudge,  and  do  domestic 
work,  and  make  canals  and  roads,  and  execute  great 
lines  of  Internal  Improvement  ?  Irishmen  both, 
and  sorely  puzzled,  too,  to  find  out  what  they  seek. 
Let  us  go  down,  and  help  them,  for  the  love  of  home, 
and  that  spirit  of  liberty  which  admits  of  honest 
service  to  honest  men,  and  honest  work  for  honest 
bread,  no  matter  what  it  be. 

That's  well !  We  have  got  at  the  right  address 
at  last,  though  it  is  written  in  strange  characters 
truly,  and  might  have  been  scrawled  with  the  blunt 
handle  of  the  spade  the  writer  better  knows  the 


FOR   GENERAL   CIRCULATION.  117 

use  of  than  a  pen.  Their  way  lies  yonder,  but  what 
business  takes  them  there  ?  They  carry  savings : 
to  hoard  up  ?  No.  They  are  brothers,  those  men. 
One  crossed  the  sea  alone,  and  working  very  hard 
for  one  half  year,  and  living  harder,  saved  funds 
enough  to  bring  the  other  out.  That  done,  they 
worked  together  side  by  side,  contentedly  sharing 
hard  labor  and  hard  living  for  another  term,  and  then 
their  sisters  came,  and  then  another  brother,  and 
lastly,  their  old  mother.  And  what  now  ?  Why, 
the  poor  old  crone  is  restless  in  a  strange  land,  and 
yearns  to  lay  her  bones,  she  says,  among  her  people 
in  the  old  graveyard  at  home  :  and  so  they  go  to  pay 
her  passage  back :  and  God  help  her  and  them,  and 
every  simple  heart,  and  all  who  turn  to  the  Jerusa- 
lem of  their  younger  days,  and  have  an  altar-fire 
upon  the  cold  hearth  of  their  fathers  ! 

This  narrow  thoroughfare,  baking  and  blistering 
in  the  sun,  is  Wall  Street :  the  Stock  Exchange  and 
Lombard  Street  of  New  York.  Many  a  rapid  for- 
tune has  been  made  in  this  street,  and  many  a  no 
less  rapid  ruin.  Some  of  these  very  merchants 
whom  you  see  hanging  about  here  now,  have  locked 
up  money  in  their  strong-boxes,  like  the  man  in  the 
Arabian  Nights,  and  opening  them  again,  have  found 
but  withered  leaves.  Below,  here  by  the  water-side, 
where  the  bowsprits  of  ships  stretch  across  the  foot- 
way, and  almost  thrust  themselves  into  the  windows, 
lie  the  noble  American  vessels  which  have  made 
their  Packet  Service  the  finest  in  the  world.  They 
have  brought  hither  the  foreigners  who  abound  in 
all  the  streets :  not,  perhaps,  that  there  are  more 
here  than  in  other  commercial  cities ;  but  elsewhere 
they  have  particular  haunts,  and  you  must  find  them 
out ;  here  they  pervade  the  town. 


118  AMERICAN  NOTES 

We  must  cross  Broadway  again ;  gaining  some 
refreshment  from  the  heat  in  the  sight  of  the  great 
blocks  of  clean  ice  which  are  being  carried  into 
shops  and  bar-rooms ;  and  the  pine-apples  and  water- 
melons profusely  displayed  for  sale.  Fine  streets 
of  spacious  houses  here,  you  see !  —  Wall  Street  has 
furnished  and  dismantled  many  of  them  very  often 
—  and  here  a  deep  green  leafy  square.  Be  sure  that 
is  a  hospitable  house,  with  inmates  to  be  affection- 
ately remembered  always,  where  they  have  the  open 
door  and  pretty  show  of  plants  within,  and  where 
the  child  with  laughing  eyes  is  peeping  out  of  win- 
dow at  the  little  dog  below.  You  wonder  what  may 
be  the  use  of  this  tall  flagstaff  in  the  by-street, 
with  something  like  Liberty's  head-dress  on  its  top : 
so  do  I.  But  there  is  a  passion  for  tall  flagstaffs 
hereabout,  and  you  may  see  its  twin  brother  in  five 
minutes,  if  you  have  a  mind. 

Again  across  Broadway,  and  so  —  passing  from 
the  many-colored  crowd  and  glittering  shops  —  into 
another  long  main  street,  the  Bowery.  A  railroad 
yonder,  see,  where  two  stout  horses  trot  along, 
drawing  a  score  or  two  of  people  and  a  great  wooden 
ark  with  ease.  The  stores  are  poorer  here,  the  pass- 
engers less  gay.  Clothes  ready  made,  and  meat 
ready  cooked,  are  to  be  bought  in  these  parts ;  and 
the  lively  whirl  of  carriages  is  exchanged  for  the 
deep  rumble  of  carts  and  wagons.  These  signs 
which  are  so  plentiful,  in  shape  like  river  buoys,  or 
small  balloons,  hoisted  by  cords  to  poles,  and  dang- 
ling there,  announce,  as  you  may  see  by  looking  up, 
"OYSTERS  IN  EVERY  STYLE."  They  tempt  the 
hungry  most  at  night,  for  then  dull  candles,  glim- 
mering inside,  illuminate  these  dainty  words,  and 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  119 

make  the  mouths  of  idlers  water  as  they  read  and 
linger. 

What  is  this  dismal-fronted  pile  of  bastard  Egyp- 
tian, like  an  enchanter's  palace  in  a  melodrama  ?  — 
A  famous  prison,  called  The  Tombs.  Shall  we 
go  in? 

So.  A  long,  narrow,  lofty  building,  stove-heated 
as  usual,  with  four  galleries,  one  above  the  other, 
going  round  it,  and  communicating  by  stairs.  Be- 
tween the  two  sides  of  each  gallery,  and  in  its  cen- 
tre, a  bridge,  for  the  greater  convenience  of  crossing. 
On  each  of  these  bridges  sits  a  man :  dozing  or 
reading,  or  talking  to  an  idle  companion.  On  each 
tier  are  two  opposite  rows  of  small  iron  doors. 
They  look  like  furnace  doors,  but  are  cold  and  black, 
as  though  the  fires  within  had  all  gone  out.  Some 
two  or  three  are  open,  and  women,  with  drooping 
heads  bent  down,  are  talking  to  the  inmates.  The 
whole  is  lighted  by  a  skylight,  but  it  is  fast  closed  ; 
and  from  the  roof  there  dangle,  limp  and  drooping, 
two  useless  wind-sails. 

A  man  with  keys  appears,  to  show  us  round.  A 
good-looking  fellow,  and,  in  his  way,  civil  and 
obliging. 

"  Are  those  black  doors  the  cells  ?  " 

"  Yes." 

"Are  they  all  full?" 

"  Well,  they're  pretty  nigh  full,  and  that's  a  fact, 
and  no  two  ways  about  it." 

"  Those  at  the  bottom  are  unwholesome,  surely  ?  " 

"Why,  we  do  only  put  colored  people  in  'em. 
That's  the  truth." 

"  When  do  the  prisoners  take  exercise  ?  " 

"  Well,  they  do  without  it  pretty  much." 


120  AMERICAN   NOTES 

"  Do  they  never  walk  in  the  yard  ?  " 

"  Considerable  seldom." 

"  Sometimes,  I  suppose  ?  " 

"Well,  it's  rare  they  do.  They  keep  pretty 
bright  without  it." 

"But  suppose  a  man  were  here  for  a  twelve- 
month. I  know  this  is  only  a  prison  for  criminals 
who  are  charged  with  grave  offences,  while  they  are 
awaiting  their  trial,  or  are  under  remand,  but  the 
law  here  affords  criminals  many  means  of  delay. 
What  with  motions  for  new  trial,  and  in  arrest  of 
judgment,  and  what  not,  a  prisoner  might  be  here 
for  twelve  months,  I  take  it,  might  he  not  ?  " 

"Well,  I  guess  he  might." 

"  Do  you  mean  to  say  that  in  all  that  time  he 
would  never  come  out  at  that  little  iron  door  for 
exercise  ?  " 

"  He  might  walk  some,  perhaps  —  not  much." 

"  Will  you  open  one  of  the  doors  ?  " 

"  All,  if  you  like." 

The  fastenings  jar  and  rattle,  and  one  of  the  doors 
turns  slowly  on  its  hinges.  Let  us  look  in.  A 
small  bare  cell,  into  which  the  light  enters  through 
a  high  chink  in  the  wall.  There  is  a  rude  means  of 
washing,  a  table,  and  a  bedstead.  Upon  the  latter 
sits  a  man  of  sixty;  reading.  He  looks  up  for  a 
moment;  gives  an  impatient  dogged  shake;  and 
fixes  his  eyes  upon  his  book  again.  As  we  withdraw 
our  heads,  the  door  closes  on  him,  and  is  fastened 
as  before.  This  man  has  murdered  his  wife,  and 
will  probably  be  hanged. 

"  How  long  has  he  been  here  ?  " 

"  A  month." 

"  When  will  he  be  tried  ?  " 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  121 

"Next  term." 

"  When  is  that  ?  " 

"  Next  month." 

"In  England,  if  a  man  be  under  a  sentence  of 
death  even,  he  has  air  and  exercise  at  certain  periods 
of  the  day." 

"  Possible  ?  " 

With  what  stupendous  and  untranslatable  cool- 
ness he  says  this,  and  how  loungingly  he  leads  on  to 
the  women's  side :  making,  as  he  goes,  a  kind  of  iron 
Castanet  of  the  key  and  the  stair-rail ! 

Each  cell  door  on  this  side  has  a  square  aperture 
in  it.  Some  of  the  women  peep  anxiously  through 
it  at  the  sound  of  footsteps ;  others  shrink  away  in 
shame.  —  For  what  offence  can  that  lonely  child,  of 
ten  or  twelve  years  old,  be  shut  up  here  ?  Oh !  that 
boy  ?  He  is  the  son  of  a  prisoner  we  saw  just  now ; 
is  a  witness  against  his  father ;  and  is  detained  here 
for  safe  keeping  until  the  trial ;  that's  all. 

But  it  is  a  dreadful  place  for  a  child  to  pass  the 
long  days  and  nights  in.  This  is  rather  hard  treat- 
ment for  a  young  witness,  is  it  not  ?  — ••  What  says 
our  conductor  ? 

"Well,  it  ain't  a  very  rowdy  life,  and  that's  a 
fact ! " 

Again  he  clinks  his  metal  castanet,  and  leads  us 
leisurely  away.  I  have  a  question  to  ask  him  as  we 
go: 

"  Pray,  why  do  they  call  this  place  The  Tombs  ?  " 

"  Well,  it's  the  cant  name." 

"  I  know  it  is.     Why  ?  " 

"  Some  suicides  happened  here  when  it  was  first 
built.  I  expect  it  come  about  from  that." 

"I  saw,  just  now,  that  that  man's  clothes  were 


122  AMERICAN  NOTES 

scattered  about  the  floor  of  his  cell.  Don't  you 
oblige  the  prisoners  to  be  orderly,  and  put  such 
things  away  ?  " 

"  Where  should  they  put  'em  ?  " 

"Not  on  the  ground,  surely.  What  do  you  say 
to  hanging  them  up  ?  " 

He  stops  and  looks  round  to  emphasize  his  an- 
swer : 

"  Why,  I  say  that's  just  it.  When  they  had  hooks 
they  would  hang  themselves,  so  they're  taken  out  of 
every  cell,  and  there's  only  the  marks  left  where 
they  used  to  be ! " 

The  prison  yard,  in  which  he  pauses  now,  has  been 
the  scene  of  terrible  performances.  Into  this  nar- 
row, grave-like  place  men  are  brought  out  to  die. 
The  wretched  creature  stands  beneath  the  gibbet  on 
the  ground ;  the  rope  about  his  neck ;  and  when  the 
sign  is  given,  a  weight  at  its  other  end  comes  run- 
ning down,  and  swings  him  up  into  the  air  —  a 
corpse. 

The  law  requires  that  there  be  present  at  this 
dismal  spectacle  the  judge,  the  jury,  and  citizens  to 
the  amount  of  twenty-five.  From  the  community  it 
is  hidden.  To  the  dissolute  and  bad,  the  thing  re- 
mains a  frightful  mystery.  Between  the  criminal 
and  them,  the  prison  wall  is  interposed  as  a  thick 
gloomy  veil.  It  is  the  curtain  to  his  bed  of  death, 
his  winding-sheet,  and  grave.  From  him  it  shuts 
out  life,  and  all  the  motives  to  unrepenting  hardi- 
hood in  that  last  hour,  which  its  mere  sight  and 
presence  is  often  all-sufficient  to  sustain.  There  are 
no  bold  eyes  to  make  him  bold ;  no  ruffians  to  up- 
hold a  ruffian's  name  before.  All  beyond  the  piti- 
less stone  wall  is  unknown  space* 


FOE,   GENERAL  CIRCULATION".  123 

Let  us  go  forth  again  into  the  cheerful  streets. 

Once  more  in  Broadway !  Here  are  the  same 
ladies  in  bright  colors,  walking  to  and  fro,  in  pairs 
and  singly ;  yonder  the  very  same  light  blue  para- 
sol which  passed  and  repassed  the  hotel  window 
twenty  times  while  we  were  sitting  there.  We  are 
going  to  cross  here.  Take  care  of  the  pigs.  Two 
portly  sows  are  trotting  up  behind  this  carriage, 
and  a  select  party  of  half  a  dozen  gentlemen  hogs 
have  just  now  turned  the  corner. 

Here  is  a  solitary  swine  lounging  homeward  by  him- 
self. He  has  only  one  ear ;  having  parted  with  the 
other  to  vagrant  dogs  in  the  course  of  his  city  ram- 
bles. But  he  gets  on  very  well  without  it ;  and  leads 
a  roving,  gentlemanly,  vagabond  kind  of  life,  some- 
what answering  to  that  of  our  club  men  at  home.  He 
leaves  his  lodgings  every  morning  at  a  certain  hour, 
throws  himself  upon  the  town,  gets  through  his  day 
in  some  manner  quite  satisfactory  to  himself,  and 
regularly  appears  at  the  door  of  his  own  house  again 
at  night,  like  the  mysterious  master  of  Gil  Bias. 
He  is  a  free-and-easy,  careless,  indifferent  kind  of 
pig,  having  a  very  large  acquaintance  among  other 
pigs  of  the  same  character,  whom  he  rather  knows 
by  sight  than  conversation,  as  he  seldom  troubles 
himself  to  stop  and  exchange  civilities,  but  goes 
grunting  down  the  kennel,  turning  up  the  news  and 
small -talk  of  the  city  in  the  shape  of  cabbage-stalks 
and  offal,  and  bearing  no  tails  but  his  own :  which 
is  a  very  short  one,  for  his  old  enemies,  the  dogs, 
have  been  at  that  too,  and  have  left  him  hardly 
enough  to  swear  by.  He  is  in  every  respect  a 
republican  pig,  going  wherever  he  pleases,  and  ming- 
ling with  the  best  society,  on  an  equal,  if  not  supe- 


124  AMERICAN  NOTES 

rior  footing,  for  every  one  makes  way  when  he 
appears,  and  the  haughtiest  give  him  the  wall,  if  he 
prefer  it.  He  is  a  great  philosopher,  and  seldom 
moved,  unless  by  the  dogs  before  mentioned.  Some- 
times, indeed,  you  may  see  his  small  eyes  twinkling 
on  a  slaughtered  friend,  whose  carcass  garnishes  a 
butcher's  door-post,  but  he  grunts  out,  "  Such  is  life  : 
all  flesh  is  pork  ! "  buries  his  nose  in  the  mire  again, 
and  waddles  down  the  gutter :  comforting  himself 
with  the  reflection  that  there  is  one  snout  the  less 
to  anticipate  stray  cabbage-stalks,  at  any  rate. 

They  are  the  city  scavengers,  these  pigs.  Ugly 
brutes  they  are ;  having,  for  the  most  part,  scanty, 
brown  backs,  like  the  lids  of  old  horsehair  trunks : 
spotted  with  unwholesome  black  blotches.  They 
have  long,  gaunt  legs,  too,  and  such  peaked  snouts, 
that  if  one  of  them  could  be  persuaded  to  sit  for  his 
profile,  nobody  would  recognize  it  for  a  pig's  like- 
ness. They  are  never  attended  upon,  or  fed,  or 
driven,  or  caught,  but  are  thrown  upon  their  own 
resources  in  early  life,  and  become  preternaturally 
knowing  in  consequence.  Every  pig  knows  where 
he  lives,  much  better  than  anybody  could  tell  him. 
At  this  hour,  just  as  evening  is  closing  in,  you  will 
see  them  roaming  towards  bed  by  scores,  eating 
their  way  to  the  last.  Occasionally,  some  youth 
among  them  who  has  over-eaten  himself,  or  has  been 
much  worried  by  dogs,  trots  shrinkingly  homeward, 
like  a  prodigal  son  ;  but  this  is  a  rare  case  :  perfect 
self-possession  and  self-reliance,  and  immovable 
composure,  being  their  foremost  attributes. 

The  streets  and  shops  are  lighted  now ;  and  as 
the  eye  travels  down  the  long  thoroughfare,  dotted 
with  bright  jets  of  gas,  it  is  reminded  of  Oxford 


FOR   GENERAL   CIRCULATION.  125 

Street  or  Piccadilly.  Here  and  there  a  flight  of 
broad  stone  cellar  steps  appears,  and  a  painted  lamp 
directs  you  to  the  Bowling  Saloon,  or  Ten-Pin  alley  : 
Ten-Pins  being  a  game  of  mingled  chance  and  skill, 
invented  when  the  legislature  passed  an  act  forbid- 
ding Nine-Pins.  At  other  downward  flights  of  steps 
are  other  lamps,  marking  the  whereabouts  of  oyster 
cellars  —  pleasant  retreats,  say  I:  not  only  by  rea- 
son of  their  wonderful  cookery  of  oysters,  pretty 
nigh  as  large  as  cheese-plates  (or  for  thy  dear  sake, 
heartiest  of  Greek  Professors  !  )  but  because,  of  all 
kinds  of  eaters  of  fish,  or  flesh,  or  fowl,  in  these 
latitudes,  the  swallowers  of  oysters  alone  are  not 
gregarious  ;  but  subduing  themselves,  as  it  were,  to 
the  nature  of  what  they  work  in,  and  copying  the 
coyness  of  the  thing  they  eat,  do  sit  apart  in  cur- 
tained boxes,  and  consort  by  twos,  not  by  two  hun- 
dreds. 

But  how  quiet  the  streets  are  !  Are  there  no 
itinerant  bands  ;  no  wind  or  stringed  instruments  ? 
No,  not  one.  By  day,  are  there  no  Punches,  Fantoc- 
cini, Dancing  Dogs,  Jugglers,  Conjurers,  Orchestri- 
nas,  or  even  Barrel-organs  ?  No,  not  one.  Yes,  I 
remember  one.  One  barrel-organ  and  a  dancing 
monkey  —  sportive  by  nature,  but  fast  fading  into 
a  dull,  lumpish  monkey,  of  the  Utilitarian  school. 
Beyond  that,  nothing  lively ;  no,  not  so  much  as  a 
white  mouse  in  a  twirling  cage. 

Are  there  no  amusements  ?  Yes,  there  is  a  lec- 
ture-room across  the  way,  from  which  that  glare  of 
light  proceeds,  and  there  may  be  evening  service  for 
the  ladies  thrice  a  week,  or  oftener.  For  the  young 
gentlemen  there  is  the  counting-house,  the  store,  the 
bar-room ;  the  latter,  as  you  may  see  through  these 


126  AMERICAN  NOTES 

windows,  pretty  full.  Hark  !  to  the  clinking  sound 
of  hammers  breaking  lumps  of  ice,  and  to  the  cool 
gurgling  of  the  pounded  bits,  as,  in  the  process  of 
mixing,  they  are  poured  from  glass  to  glass !  No 
amusements  ?  What  are  these  suckers  of  cigars 
and  swallowers  of  strong  drinks,  whose  hats  and  legs 
we  see  in  every  possible  variety  of  twist,  doing,  but 
amusing  themselves  ?  What  are  the  fifty  news- 
papers, which  those  precocious  urchins  are  bawling 
down  the  street,  and  which  are  kept  filed  within, 
what  are  they  but  amusements  ?  Not  vapid,  water- 
ish  amusements,  but  good  strong  stuff;  dealing  in 
round  abuse  and  blackguard  names ;  pulling  off  the 
roofs  of  private  houses,  as  the  Halting  Devil  did  in 
Spain;  pimping  and  pandering  for  all  degrees  of 
vicious  taste,  and  gorging  with  coined  lies  the  most 
voracious  maw ;  imputing  to  every  man  in  public 
life  the  coarsest  and  the  vilest  motives;  scaring 
away  from  the  stabbed  and  prostrate  body  politic 
every  Samaritan  of  clear  conscience  and  good  deeds ; 
and  setting  on,  with  yell  and  whistle,  and  the  clap- 
ping of  foul  hands,  the  vilest  vermin  and  worst 
birds  of  prey.  —  No  amusements ! 

Let  us  go  on  again ;  and  passing  this  wilderness 
of  an  hotel  with  stores  about  its  base,  like  some 
Continental  theatre,  or  the  London  Opera  House 
shorn  of  its  colonnade,  plunge  into  the  Five  Points. 
But  it  is  needful,  first,  that  we  take  as  our  escort 
these  two  heads  of  the  police,  whom  you  would 
know  for  sharp  and  well-trained  officers  if  you  met 
them  in  the  Great  Desert.  So  true  it  is  that  cer- 
tain pursuits,  wherever  carried  on,  will  stamp  men 
with  the  same  character.  These  two  might  have 
been  begotten,  born,  and  bred  in  Bow  Street. 


FOR   GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  127 

We  have  seen  no  beggars  in  the  streets  by  night 
or  day ;  but  of  other  kinds  of  strollers  plenty. 
Poverty,  wretchedness,  and  vice  are  rife  enough 
where  we  are  going  now. 

This  is  the  place,  these  narrow  ways,  diverging  to 
the  right  and  left,  and  reeking  everywhere  with  dirt 
and  filth.  Such  lives  as  are  led  here,  bear  the  same 
fruits  here  as  elsewhere.  The  coarse  and  bloated 
faces  at  the  doors  have  counterparts  at  home,  and 
all  the  wide  world  over.  Debauchery  has  made  the 
very  houses  prematurely  old.  See  how  the  rotten 
beams  are  tumbling  down,  and  how  the  patched  and 
broken  windows  seem  to  scowl  dimly,  like  eyes  that 
have  been  hurt  in  drunken  frays.  Many  of  those 
pigs  live  here.  Do  they  ever  wonder  why  their 
masters  walk  upright  in  lieu  of  going  on  all-fours  ? 
and  why  they  talk  instead  of  grunting  ? 

So  far,  nearly  every  house  is  a  low  tavern ;  and  on 
the  bar-room  walls  are  colored  prints  of  Wash- 
ington, and  Queen  Victoria  of  England,  and  the 
American  Eagle.  Among  the  pigeon-holes  that 
hold  the  bottles  are  pieces  of  plate  glass  and  colored 
paper,  for  there  is,  in  some  sort,  a  taste  for  decora- 
tion even  here.  And,  as  seamen  frequent  these 
haunts,  there  are  maritime  pictures  by  the  dozen: 
of  partings  between  sailors  and  their  lady  loves, 
portraits  of  William  of  the  ballad,  and  his  Black- 
Eyed  Susan ;  of  Will  Watch,  the  Bold  Smuggler ; 
of  Paul  Jones  the  Pirate,  and  the  like  :  on  which 
the  painted  eyes  of  Queen  Victoria,  and  of  Wash- 
ington to  boot,  rest  in  as  strange  companionship  as 
on  most  of  the  scenes  that  are  enacted  in  their 
wondering  presence. 

What  place  is  this,  to  which  the  squalid  street 


128  AMERICAN  NOTES 

conducts  us  ?  A  kind  of  square  of  leprous  houses, 
some  of  which  are  attainable  only  by  crazy  wooden 
stairs  without.  What  lies  beyond  this  tottering 
flight  of  steps,  that  creak  beneath  our  tread  ?  —  A 
miserable  room,  lighted  by  one  dim  candle,  and  des- 
titute of  all  comfort,  save  that  which  may  be  hidden 
in  a  wretched  bed.  Beside  it  sits  a  man :  his  elbows 
on  his  knees :  his  forehead  hidden  in  his  hands. 
"  What  ails  that  man  ?  "  asks  the  foremost  officer. 
"Fever,"  he  sullenly  replies,  without  looking  up. 
Conceive  the  fancies  of  a  fevered  brain  in  such  a 
place  as  this  ! 

Ascend  these  pitch-dark  stairs,  heedful  of  a  false 
footing  on  the  trembling  boards,  and  grope  your  way 
with  me  into  this  wolfish  den,  where  neither  ray  of 
light  nor  breath  of  air  appears  to  come.  A  negro 
lad,  startled  from  his  sleep  by  the  officer's  voice  — 
he  knows  it  well  —  but  comforted  by  his  assurance 
that  he  has  not  come  on  business,  officiously  bestirs 
himself  to  light  a  candle.  The  match  flickers  for  a 
moment,  and  shows  great  mounds  of  dusky  rags 
upon  the  ground;  then  dies  away  and  leaves  a 
denser  darkness  than  before,  if  there  can  be  degrees 
in  such  extremes.  He  stumbles  down  the  stairs, 
and  presently  comes  back  shading  a  flaring  taper 
with  his  hand.  Then  the  mounds  of  rags  are  seen 
to  be  astir,  and  rise  slowly  up,  and  the  floor  is 
covered  with  heaps  of  negro  women,  waking  from 
their  sleep :  their  white  teeth  chattering,  and  their 
bright  eyes  glistening  and  winking  on  all  sides  with 
surprise  and  fear,  like  the  countless  repetition  of 
one  astonished  African  face  in  some  strange  mirror. 

Mount  up  these  other  stairs  with  no  less  caution 
(there  are  traps  and  pitfalls  here  for  those  who  are 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  129 

not  so  well  escorted  as  ourselves)  into  the  housetop ; 
where  the  bare  beams  and  rafters  meet  overhead, 
and  calm  night  looks  down  through  the  crevices  in 
the  roof.  Open  the  door  of  one  of  these  cramped 
hutches  full  of  sleeping  negroes.  Pah  !  They  have 
a  charcoal  fire  within ;  there  is  a  smell  of  singeing 
clothes,  or  flesh,  so  close  they  gather  round  the 
brazier;  and  vapors  issue  forth  that  blind  and 
suffocate.  From  every  corner,  as  you  glance  about 
you  in  these  dark  retreats,  some  figure  crawls  half 
awakened,  as  if  the  judgment  hour  were  near  at 
hand,  and  every  obscene  grave  were  giving  up  its 
dead.  Where  dogs  would  howl  to  lie,  women,  and 
men,  and  boys  slink  off  to  sleep,  forcing  the  dis- 
lodged rats  to  move  away  in  quest  of  better 
lodgings. 

Here,  too,  are  lanes  and  alleys,  paved  with  mud 
knee-deep  :  underground  chambers,  where  they 
dance  and  game;  the  walls  bedecked  with  rough 
designs  of  ships,  and  forts,  and  flags,  and  American 
Eagles  out  of  number:  ruined  houses,  open  to  the 
street,  whence,  through  wide  gaps  in  the  walls, 
other  ruins  loom  upon  the  eye,  as  though  the  world 
of  vice  and  misery  had  nothing  else  to  show: 
hideous  tenements  which  take  their  name  from 
robbery  and  murder;  all  that  is  loathsome,  droop- 
ing, and  decayed  is  here. 

Our  leader  has  his  hand  upon  the  latch  of 
"Almack's,"  and  calls  to  us  from  the  bottom  of  the 
steps;  for  the  assembly-room  of  the  Five-Point 
fashionables  is  approached  by  a  descent.  Shall  we 
go  in  ?  It  is  but  a  moment. 

Heyday !  the  landlady  of  Almack's  thrives  !  A 
buxom  fat  mulatto  woman,  with  sparkling  eyes, 
9 


130  AMERICAN  NOTES 

whose  head  is  daintily  ornamented  with  a  handker- 
chief of  many  colors.  Nor  is  the  landlord  much 
behind  her  in  his  finery,  being  attired  in  a  smart 
blue  jacket,  like  a  ship's  steward,  with  a  thick  gold 
ring  upon  his  little  finger,  and  round  his  neck  a 
gleaming  golden  watch-guard.  How  glad  he  is  to 
see  us !  What  will  we  please  to  call  for  ?  A 
dance  ?  It  shall  be  done  directly,  sir :  "  a  regular 
break-down." 

The  corpulent  black  fiddler,  and  his  friend  who 
plays  the  tambourine,  stamp  upon  the  boarding  of 
the  small  raised  orchestra  in  which  they  sit,  and 
play  a  lively  measure.  Five  or  six  couple  come 
upon  the  floor,  marshalled  by  a  lively  young  negro, 
who  is  the  wit  of  the  assembly,  and  the  greatest 
dancer  known.  He  never  leaves  off  making  queer 
faces,  and  is  the  delight  of  all  the  rest,  who  grin 
from  ear  to  ear  incessantly.  Among  the  dancers 
are  two  young  mulatto  girls,  with  large,  black, 
drooping  eyes,  and  headgear  after  the  fashion  of 
the  hostess,  who  are  as  shy,  or  feign  to  be,  as  though 
they  never  danced  before,  and  so  look  down  before 
the  visitors,  that  their  partners  can  see  nothing  but 
the  long  fringed  lashes. 

But  the  dance  commences.  Every  gentleman  sets 
as  long  as  he  likes  to  the  opposite  lady,  and  the 
opposite  lady  to  him,  and  all  are  so  long  about  it 
that  the  sport  begins  to  languish,  when  suddenly 
the  lively  hero  dashes  in  to  the  rescue.  Instantly 
the  fiddler  grins,  and  goes  at  it  tooth  and  nail ; 
there  is  new  energy  in  the  tambourine ;  new  laughter 
in  the  dancers ;  new  smiles  in  the  landlady ;  new 
confidence  in  the  landlord ;  new  brightness  in  the 
very  candles.  Single  shuffle,  double  shuffle,  cut  and 


FOR   GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  131 

cross-cut :  snapping  his  fingers,  rolling  his  eyes, 
turning  in  his  knees,  presenting  the  backs  of  his 
legs  in  front,  spinning  about  on  his  toes  and  heels 
like  nothing  but  the  man's  fingers  on  the  tam- 
bourine ;  dancing  with  two  left  legs,  two  right  legs, 
two  wooden  legs,  two  wire  legs,  two  spring  legs  — 
all  sorts  of  legs  and  no  legs  —  what  is  this  to  him  ? 
And  in  what  walk  of  life,  or  dance  of  life,  does 
man  ever  get  such  stimulating  applause  as  thunders 
about  him,  when,  having  danced  his  partner  off  her 
feet,  and  himself  too,  he  finishes  by  leaping  glori- 
ously on  the  bar-counter,  and  calling  for  something 
to  drink,  with  the  chuckle  of  a  million  of  counter- 
feit Jim  Crows,  in  one  inimitable  sound  ? 

The  air,  even  in  these  distempered  parts,  is  fresh 
after  the  stifling  atmosphere  of  the  houses;  and 
now,  as  we  emerge  into  a  broader  street,  it  blows 
upon  us  with  a  purer  breath,  and  the  stars  look 
bright  again.  Here  are  The  Tombs  once  more. 
The  city  watch-house  is  a  part  of  the  building.  It 
follows  naturally  on  the  sights  we  have  just  left. 
Let  us  see  that,  and  then  to  bed. 

What!  do  you  thrust  your  common  offenders 
against  the  police  discipline  of  the  town  into  such 
holes  as  these  ?  Do  men  and  women,  against  whom 
no  crime  is  proved,  lie  here  all  night  in  perfect 
darkness,  surrounded  by  the  noisome  vapors  which 
encircle  that  flagging  lamp  you  light  us  with,  and 
breathing  this  filthy  and  offensive  stench  ?  Why, 
such  indecent  and  disgusting  dungeons  as  these 
cells  would  bring  disgrace  upon  the  most  despotic 
empire  in  the  world!  Look  at  them,  man — you, 
who  see  them  every  night,  and  keep  the  keys.  Do 
you  see  what  they  are  ?  Do  you  know  how  drains 


132  AMERICAN   NOTES 

are  made  below  the  streets,  and  wherein  these 
human  sewers  differ,  except  in  being  always  stag- 
nant ? 

Well,  he  don't  know.  He  has  had  five  and  twenty 
young  women  locked  up  in  this  very  cell  at  one 
time,  and  you'd  hardly  realize  what  handsome  faces 
there  were  among  'em. 

In  God's  name  !  shut  the  door  upon  the  wretched 
creature  who  is  in  it  now,  and  put  its  screen  before 
a  place  quite  unsurpassed  in  all  the  vice,  neglect, 
and  devilry  of  the  worst  old  town  in  Europe. 

Are  people  really  left  all  night,  untried,  in  those 
black  sties?  —  Every  night.  The  watch  is  set  at 
seven  in  the  evening.  The  magistrate  opens  his 
court  at  five  in  the  morning.  That  is  the  earliest 
hour  at  which  the  first  prisoner  can  be  released; 
and  if  an  officer  appear  against  him,  he  is  not  taken 
out  till  nine  o'clock  or  ten.  —  But  if  any  one  among 
them  die  in  the  interval,  as  one  man  did  not  long 
ago  ?  Then  he  is  half  eaten  by  the  rats  in  an 
hour's  time,  as  that  man  was ;  and  there  an  end. 

What  is  this  intolerable  tolling  of  great  bells,  and 
crashing  of  wheels,  and  shouting  in  the  distance  ? 
A  fire.  And  what  that  deep  red  light  in  the  oppo- 
site direction?  Another  fire.  And  what  these 
charred  and  blackened  walls  we  stand  before  ?  A 
dwelling  where  a  fire  has  been.  It  was  more  than 
hinted,  in  an  official  report,  not  long  ago,  that  some 
of  these  conflagrations  were  not  wholly  accidental, 
and  that  speculation  and  enterprise  found  a  field  of 
exertion,  even  in  flames :  but,  be  this  as  it  may, 
there  was  a  fire  last  night,  there  are  two  to-night, 
and  you  may  lay  an  even  wager  there  will  be  at 
least  one  to-morrow.  So,  carrying  that  with  us  for 


FOR  GENERAL   CIRCULATION.  133 

our  comfort,  let  us  say,  Good-night,  and  climb  up- 
stairs to  bed. 

One  day,  during  my  stay  in  New  York,  I  paid  a 
visit  to  the  different  public  institutions  on  Long 
Island,  or  Rhode  Island :  I  forget  which.  One  of 
them  is  a  Lunatic  Asylum.  The  building  is  hand- 
some; and  is  remarkable  for  a  spacious  and  elegant 
staircase.  The  whole  structure  is  not  yet  finished, 
but  it  is  already  one  of  considerable  size  and  extent, 
and  is  capable  of  accommodating  a  very  large  num- 
ber of  patients. 

I  cannot  say  that  I  derived  much  comfort  from 
the  inspection  of  this  charity.  The  different  wards 
might  have  been  cleaner  and  better  ordered ;  I  saw 
nothing  of  that  salutary  system  which  had  impressed 
me  so  favorably  elsewhere;  and  everything  had  a 
lounging,  listless,  madhouse  air,  which  was  very 
painful.  The  moping  idiot,  cowering  down  with 
long  dishevelled  hair;  the  gibbering  maniac,  with 
his  hideous  laugh  and  pointed  finger;  the  vacant 
eye,  the  fierce  wild  face,  the  gloomy  picking  of  the 
hands  and  lips,  and  munching  of  the  nails :  there 
they  were  all,  without  disguise,  in  naked  ugliness 
and  horror:  In  the  dining-room,  a  bare,  dull,  dreary 
place,  with  nothing  for  the  eye  to  rest  on  but  the 
empty  walls,  a  woman  was  locked  up  alone.  She 
was  bent,  they  told  me,  on  committing  suicide.  If 
anything  could  have  strengthened  her  in  her  resolu- 
tion, it  would  certainly  have  been  the  insupportable 
monotony  of  such  an  existence. 

The  terrible  crowd  with  which  these  halls  and 
galleries  were  filled  so  shocked  me,  that  I  abridged 
my  stay  within  the  shortest  limits,  and  declined  to 


134  AMERICAN  NOTES 

see  that  portion  of  the  building  in  which  the  refrac- 
tory and  violent  were  under  closer  restraint.  I  have 
no  doubt  that  the  gentleman  who  presided  over  this 
establishment  at  the  time  I  write  of,  was  competent 
to  manage  it,  and  had  done  all  in  his  power  to  pro- 
mote its  usefulness  :  but  will  it  be  believed  that  the 
miserable  strife  of  Party  feeling  is  carried  even  into 
this  sad  refuge  of  afflicted  and  degraded  humanity  ? 
Will  it  be  believed  that  the  eyes  which  are  to  watch 
over  and  control  the  wanderings  of  minds  on  which 
the  most  dreadful  visitation  to  which  our  nature  is 
exposed  has  fallen,  must  wear  the  glasses  of  some 
wretched  side  in  Politics  ?  Will  it  be  believed  that 
the  governor  of  such  a  house  as  this  is  appointed, 
and  deposed,  and  changed  perpetually,  as  Parties 
fluctuate  and  vary,  and  as  their  despicable  weather- 
cocks are  blown  this  way  or  that  ?  A  hundred  times 
in  every  week,  some  new  most  paltry  exhibition  of 
that  narrow-minded  and  injurious  Party  Spirit  which 
is  the  Simoom  of  America,  sickening  and  blighting 
everything  of  wholesome  life  within  its  reach,  was 
forced  upon  my  notice ;  but  I  never  turned  my  back 
upon  it  with  feelings  of  such  deep  disgust  and  meas- 
ureless contempt  as  when  I  crossed  the  threshold  of 
this  madhouse. 

At  a  short  distance  from  this  building  is  another 
called  the  Alms  House,  that  is  to  say,  the  workhouse 
of  New  York.  This  is  a  large  institution  also: 
lodging,  I  believe,  when  I  was  there,  nearly  a  thou- 
sand poor.  It  was  badly  ventilated,  and  badly 
lighted;  was  not  too  clean;  and  impressed  me,  on 
the  whole,  very  uncomfortably.  But  it  must  be  re- 
membered that  New  York,  as  a  great  emporium  of 
commerce,  and  as  a  place  of  general  resort,  not  only 


FOR   GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  135 

from  all  parts  of  the  States,  but  from  most  parts  of 
the  world,  has  always  a  large  pauper  population  to 
provide  for;  and  labors,  therefore,  under  peculiar 
difficulties  in  this  respect.  Nor  must  it  be  forgotten 
that  New  York  is  a  large  town,  and  that  in  all  large 
towns  a  vast  amount  of  good  and  evil  is  intermixed 
and  jumbled  up  together. 

In  the  same  neighborhood  is  the  Farm,  where 
young  orphans  are  nursed  and  bred.  I  did  not  see 
it,  but  I  believe  it  is  well  conducted ;  and  I  can  the 
more  easily  credit  it,  from  knowing  how  mindful 
they  usually  are,  in  America,  of  that  beautiful  pass- 
age in  the  Litany  which  remembers  all  sick  persons 
and  young  children. 

I  was  taken  to  these  Institutions  by  water,  in  a 
boat  belonging  to  the  Island  Jail,  and  rowed  by  a 
crew  of  prisoners,  who  were  dressed  in  a  striped 
uniform  of  black  and  buff,  in  which  they  looked 
like  faded  tigers.  They  took  me,  by  the  same  con- 
veyance, to  the  Jail  itself. 

It  is  an  old  prison,  and  quite  a  pioneer  establish- 
ment, on  the  plan  I  have  already  described.  I  was 
glad  to  hear  this,  for  it  is  unquestionably  a  very 
indifferent  one.  The  most  is  made,  however,  of  the 
means  it  possesses,  and  it  is  as  well  regulated  as 
such  a  place  can  be. 

The  women  worked  in  covered  sheds  erected  for 
that  purpose.  If  I  remember  right,  there  are  no 
shops  for  the  men;  but,  be  that  as  it  may,  the 
greater  part  of  them  labor  in  certain  stone  quarries 
near  at  hand.  The  day  being  very  wet  indeed,  this 
labor  was  suspended,  and  the  prisoners  were  in  their 
cells.  Imagine  these  cells,  some  two  or  three  hun- 
dred in  number,  and  in  every  one  a  man  locked  up ; 


136  A3VIEEICAN  NOTES 

this  one  at  his  door  for  air,  with  his  hands  thrust 
through  the  grate ;  this  one  in  bed  (in  the  middle 
of  the  day,  remember) ;  and  this  one  flung  down  in 
a  heap  upon  the  ground,  with  his  head  against  the 
bars,  like  a  wild  beast.  Make  the  rain  pour  down, 
outside,  in  torrents.  Put  the  everlasting  stove  in 
the  midst ;  hot,  and  suffocating,  and  vaporous  as  a 
witch's  caldron.  Add  a  collection  of  gentle  odors, 
such  as  would  arise  from  a  thousand  mildewed 
umbrellas,  wet  through,  and  a  thousand  buck-bas- 
kets, full  of  half-washed  linen  —  and  there  is  the 
prison  as  it  was  that  day. 

The  prison  for  the  State  at  Sing  Sing  is,  on  the 
other  hand,  a  model  jail.  That,  and  Auburn,  are, 
I  believe,  the  largest  and  best  examples  of  the 
silent  system. 

In  another  part  of  the  city  is  the  Eefuge  for  the 
Destitute :  an  Institution  whose  object  is  to  reclaim 
youthful  offenders,  male  and  female,  black  and 
white,  without  distinction;  to  teach  them  useful 
trades,  apprentice  them  to  respectable  masters,  and 
make  them  worthy  members  of  society.  Its  design, 
it  will  be  seen,  is  similar  to  that  at  Boston ;  and  it 
is  a  no  less  meritorious  and  admirable  establish- 
ment. A  suspicion  crossed  my  mind  during  my 
inspection  of  this  noble  charity,  whether  the  super- 
intendent had  quite  sufficient  knowledge  of  the 
world  and  worldly  characters ;  and  whether  he  did 
not  commit  a  great  mistake  in  treating  some  young 
girls,  who  were  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  by  their 
years  and  their  past  lives,  women,  as  though  they 
were  little  children ;  which  certainly  had  a  ludicrous 
effect  in  my  eyes,  and,  or  I  am  much  mistaken,  in 
theirs  also.  As  the  Institution,  however,  is  always 


FOE,   GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  137 

under  the  vigilant  examination  of  a  body  of  gentle- 
men of  great  intelligence  and  experience,  it  cannot 
fail  to  be  well  conducted ;  and  whether  I  am  right 
or  wrong  in  this  slight  particular  is  unimportant  to 
its  deserts  and  character,  which  it  would  be  difficult 
to  estimate  too  highly. 

In  addition  to  these  establishments,  there  are, 
in  New  York,  excellent  hospitals  and  schools, 
literary  institutions  and  libraries ;  an  admirable 
fire  department  (as,  indeed,  it  should  be,  having 
constant  practice),  and  charities  of  every  sort  and 
kind.  In  the  suburbs  there  is  a  spacious  ceme- 
tery; unfinished  yet,  but  every  day  improving. 
The  saddest  tomb  I  saw  there  was  "  The  Strangers' 
Grave.  Dedicated  to  the  different  hotels  in  this 
city." 

There  are  three  principal  theatres.  Two  of  them, 
the  Park  and  the  Bowery,  are  large,  elegant,  and 
handsome  buildings,  and  are,  I  grieve  to  write  it, 
generally  deserted.  The  third,  the  Olympic,  is  a 
tiny  show-box  for  vaudevilles  and  burlesques.  It 
is  singularly  well  conducted  by  Mr.  Mitchell,  a 
comic  actor  of  great  quiet  humor  and  originality, 
who  is  well  remembered  and  esteemed  by  London 
play-goers/  I  am  happy  to  report  of  this  deserving 
gentleman,  that  his  benches  are  usually  well  filled, 
and  that  his  theatre  rings  with  merriment  every 
night.  I  had  almost  forgotten  a  small  summer 
theatre,  called  Niblo's,  with  gardens  and  open-air 
amusements  attached ;  but  I  believe  it  is  not  exempt 
from  the  general  depression  under  which  Theatrical 
Property,  or  what  is  humorously  called  by  that 
name,  unfortunately  labors. 

The  country  around  New  York  is  surpassingly 


138  AMERICAN  NOTES 

and  exquisitely  picturesque.  The  climate,  as  I  have 
already  intimated,  is  somewhat  of  the  warmest. 
What  it  would  be  without  the  sea-breezes  which 
come  from  its  beautiful  Bay  in  the  evening-time, 
I  will  not  throw  myself  or  my  readers  into  a  fever 
by  inquiring. 

The  tone  of  the  best  society  in  this  city  is  like 
that  of  Boston ;  here  and  there,  it  may  be,  with  a 
greater  infusion  of  the  mercantile  spirit,  but  gener- 
ally polished  and  refined,  and  always  most  hospi- 
table. The  houses  and  tables  are  elegant ;  the  hours 
later  and  more  rakish;  and  there  is,  perhaps,  a 
greater  spirit  of  contention  in  reference  to  appear- 
ances, and  the  display  of  wealth  and  costly  living. 
The  ladies  are  singularly  beautiful. 

Before  I  left  New  York  I  made  arrangements  for 
securing  a  passage  home  in  the  George  Washington 
packet-ship,  which  was  advertised  to  sail  in  June; 
that  being  the  month  in  which  I  had  determined,  if 
prevented  by  no  accident  in  the  course  of  my  ram- 
blings,  to  leave  America. 

I  never  thought  that  going  back  to  England,  re- 
turning to  all  who  are  dear  to  me,  and  to  pursuits 
that  have  insensibly  grown  to  be  part  of  my  nature, 
I  could  have  felt  so  much  sorrow  as  I  endured 
when  I  parted  at  last,  on  board  this  ship,  with  the 
friends  who  had  accompanied  me  from  this  city. 
I  never  thought  the  name  of  any  place  so  far  away, 
and  so  lately  known,  could  ever  associate  itself  in 
my  mind  with  the  crowd  of  affectionate  remem- 
brances that  now  cluster  about  it.  There  are 
those  in  this  city  who  would  brighten,  to  me,  the 
darkest  winter  day  that  ever  glimmered  and 
went  out  in  Lapland;  and  before  whose  presence 


FOR   GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  139 

even  Home  grew  dim,  when  they  and  I  exchanged 
that  painful  word  which  mingles  with  our  every 
thought  and  deed ;  which  haunts  our  cradle-heads 
in  infancy,  and  closes  up  the  vista  of  our  lives 
in  age. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

PHILADELPHIA,    AND    ITS    SOLITABT    PRISON. 

THE  journey  from  New  York  to  Philadelphia  is 
made  by  railroad,  and  two  ferries ;  and  usually 
occupies  between  five  and  six  hours.  It  was  a  fine 
evening  when  we  were  passengers  in  the  train :  and 
watching  the  bright  sunset  from  a  little  window 
near  the  door  by  which  we  sat,  my  attention  was 
attracted  to  a  remarkable  appearance  issuing  from 
the  windows  of  the  gentlemen's  car  immediately  in 
front  of  us,  which  I  supposed  for  some  time  was 
occasioned  by  a  number  of  industrious  persons  in- 
side ripping  open  feather  beds,  and  giving  the 
feathers  to  the  wind.  At  length  it  occurred  to  me 
that  they  were  only  spitting,  which  was  indeed  the 
case ;  though  how  any  number  of  passengers  which 
it  was  possible  for  that  car  to  contain  could  have 
maintained  such  a  playful  and  incessant  shower  of 
expectoration,  I  am  still  at  a  loss  to  understand : 
notwithstanding  the  experience  in  all  salivatory 
phenomena  which  I  afterwards  acquired. 

I  made  acquaintance,  on  this  journey,  with  a  mild 

and  modest  young  Quaker,  who  opened  the  discourse 

by   informing   me,   in   a   grave   whisper,   that    his 

grandfather  was  the  inventor  of  cold-drawn  castor 

140 


AMERICAN   NOTES.  141 

oil.  I  mention  the  circumstance  here,  thinking  it 
probable  that  this  is  the  first  occasion  on  which  the 
valuable  medicine  in  question  was  ever  used  as  a 
conversational  aperient. 

We  reached  the  city  late  that  night.  Looking 
out  of  my  chamber  window  before  going  to  bed, 
I  saw,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  way,  a  handsome 
building  of  white  marble,  which  had  a  mournful, 
ghost-like  aspect,  dreary  to  behold.  I  attributed 
this  to  the  sombre  influence  of  the  night,  and,  on 
rising  in  the  morning,  looked  out  again,  expecting 
to  see  its  steps  and  portico  thronged  with  groups 
of  people  passing  in  and  out.  The  door  was  still 
tight  shut,  however;  the  same  cold,  cheerless  air 
prevailed ;  and  the  building  looked  as  if  the  marble 
statue  of  Don  Guzman  could  alone  have  any  busi- 
ness to  transact  within  its  gloomy  walls.  I  hastened 
to  inquire  its  name  and  purpose,  and  then  my  sur- 
prise vanished.  It  was  the  Tomb  of  many  fortunes ; 
the  Great  Catacomb  of  investment ;  the  memorable 
United  States  Bank. 

The  stoppage  of  this  bank,  with  all  its  ruinous 
consequences,  had  cast  (as  I  was  told  on  every  side) 
a  gloom  on  Philadelphia,  under  the  depressing  effect 
of  which,  it  yet  labored.  It  certainly  did  seem 
rather  dull  and  out  of  spirits. 

It  is  a  handsome  city,  but  distractingly  regular. 
After  walking  about  it  for  an  hour  or  two,  I  felt 
that  I  would  have  given  the  world  for  a  crooked 
street.  The  collar  of  my  coat  appeared  to  stiffen, 
and  the  brim  of  my  hat  to  expand,  beneath  its 
Quakerly  influence.  My  hair  shrunk  into  a  sleek 
short  crop,  my  hands  folded  themselves  upon  my 
breast  of  their  own  calm  accord,  and  thoughts  of 


142  AMERICAN  NOTES 

taking  lodgings  in  Mark  Lane  over  against  the 
Market-place,  and  of  making  a  large  fortune  by 
speculations  in  corn,  came  over  me  involuntarily. 

Philadelphia  is  most  bountifully  provided  with 
fresh  water,  which  is  showered  and  jerked  about, 
and  turned  on,  and  poured  off  everywhere.  The 
Water-works,  which  are  on  a  height  near  the  city, 
are  no  less  ornamental  than  useful,  being  tastefully 
laid  out  as  a  public  garden,  and  kept  in  the  best  and 
neatest  order.  The  river  is  dammed  at  this  point, 
and  forced  by  its  own  power  into  certain  high  tanks 
or  reservoirs,  whence  the  whole  city,  to  the  top 
stories  of  the  houses,  is  supplied  at  a  very  trifling 
expense. 

There  are  various  public  institutions.  Among 
them  a  most  excellent  Hospital — a  Quaker  estab- 
lishment, but  not  sectarian  in  the  great  benefits  it 
confers;  a  quiet,  quaint  old  Library,  named  after 
Franklin ;  a  handsome  Exchange  and  Post  Office ; 
and  so  forth.  In  connection  with  the  Quaker  Hos- 
pital there  is  a  picture  by  West,  which  is  exhibited 
for  the  benefit  of  the  funds  of  the  Institution.  The 
subject  is  our  Saviour  healing  the  sick,  and  it  is, 
perhaps,  as  favorable  a  specimen  of  the  master  as 
can  be  seen  anywhere.  Whether  this  be  high  or 
low  praise,  depends  upon  the  reader's  taste. 

In  the  same  room  there  is  a  very  characteristic 
and  lifelike  portrait  by  Mr.  Sully,  a  distinguished 
American  artist. 

My  stay  in  Philadelphia  was  very  short,  but  what 
I  saw  of  its  society  I  greatly  liked.  Treating  of 
its  general  characteristics,  I  should  be  disposed  to 
say  that  it  is  more  provincial  than  Boston  or  New 
York,  and  that  there  is  afloat  in  the  fair  city  an 


FOR   GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  143 

assumption  of  taste  and  criticism,  savoring  rather 
of  those  genteel  discussions  upon  the  same  themes, 
in  connection  with  Shakespeare  and  the  Musical 
Glasses,  of  which  we  read  in  the  Vicar  of  Wakefield. 
Near  the  city  is  a  most  splendid  unfinished  marble 
structure  for  the  Girard  College,  founded  by  a 
deceased  gentleman  of  that  name,  and  of  enormous 
wealth,  which,  if  completed  according  to  the  origi- 
nal design,  will  be  perhaps  the  richest  edifice  of 
modern  times.  But  the  bequest  is  involved  in  legal 
disputes,  and  pending  them  the  work  has  stopped ; 
so  that,  like  many  other  great  undertakings  in 
America,  even  this  is  rather  going  to  be  done  one 
of  these  days  than  doing  now. 

In  the  outskirts  stands  a  great  prison,  called  the 
Eastern  Penitentiary :  conducted  on  a  plan  peculiar 
to  the  State  of  Pennsylvania.  The  system  here  is 
rigid,  strict,  and  hopeless  solitary  confinement.  I 
believe  it,  in  its  effects,  to  be  cruel  and  wrong. 

In  its  intention  I  am  well  convinced  that  it  is 
kind,  humane,  and  meant  for  reformation  ;  but  I  am 
persuaded  that  those  who  devised  this  system  of 
Prison  Discipline,  and  those  benevolent  gentlemen 
who  carry  it  into  execution,  do  not  know  what  it  is 
that  they  are  doing.  I  believe  that  very  few  men 
are  capable  of  estimating  the  immense  amount  of 
torture  and  agony  which  this  dreadful  punishment, 
prolonged  for  years,  inflicts  upon  the  sufferers ;  and 
in  guessing  at  it  myself,  and  in  reasoning  from  what 
I  have  seen  written  upon  their  faces,  and  what  to 
my  certain  knowledge  they  feel  within,  I  am  only 
the  more  convinced  that  there  is  a  depth  of  terrible 
endurance  in  it  which  none  but  the  sufferers  them- 
selves can  fathom,  and  which  no  man  has  a  right  to 


144  AMERICAN   NOTES 

inflict  upon  his  fellow-creature.  I  hold  this  slow 
and  daily  tampering  with  the  mysteries  of  the  brain 
to  be  immeasurably  worse  than  any  torture  of  the 
body ;  and  because  its  ghastly  signs  and  tokens  are 
not  so  palpable  to  the  eye  and  sense  of  touch  as 
scars  upon  the  flesh ;  because  its  wounds  are  not 
upon  the  surface,  and  it  extorts  few  cries  that  human 
ears  can  hear ;  therefore  I  the  more  denounce  it,  as 
a  secret  punishment  which  slumbering  humanity  is 
not  roused  up  to  stay.  I  hesitated  once,  debating 
with  myself  whether,  if  I  had  the  power  of  saying 
"Yes"  or  "No,"  I  would  allow  it  to  be  tried  in 
certain  cases,  where  the  terms  of  imprisonment 
were  short ;  but  now  I  solemnly  declare,  that  with 
no  rewards  or  honors  could  I  walk  a  happy  man 
beneath  the  open  sky  by  day,  or  lay  me  down  upon 
my  bed  at  night,  with  the  consciousness  that  one 
human  creature,  for  any  length  of  time,  no  matter 
what,  lay  suffering  this  unknown  punishment  in  his 
silent  cell,  and  I  the  cause,  or  I  consenting  to  it  in 
the  least  degree. 

I  was  accompanied  to  this  prison  by  two  gentle- 
men officially  connected  with  its  management,  and 
passed  the  day  in  going  from  cell  to  cell,  and  talk- 
ing with  the  inmates.  Every  facility  was  afforded 
me  that  the  utmost  courtesy  could  suggest.  Noth- 
ing was  concealed  or  hidden  from  my  view,  and 
every  piece  of  information  that  I  sought  was  openly 
and  frankly  given.  The  perfect  order  of  the  build- 
ing cannot  be  praised  too  highly,  and  of  the  excel- 
lent motives  of  all  who  are  immediately  concerned 
in  the  administration  of  the  system  there  can  be  no 
kind  of  question. 

Between  the  body  of  the  prison  and  the  outer 


FOR   GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  145 

wall  there  is  a  spacious  garden.  Entering  it  by  a 
wicket  in  the  massive  gate,  we  pursued  the  path 
before  us  to  its  other  termination,  and  passed  into 
a  large  chamber,  from  which  seven  long  passages 
radiate.  On  either  side  of  each  is  a  long,  long  row 
of  low  cell  doors,  with  a  certain  number  over  every 
one.  Above,  a  gallery  of  cells  like  those  below, 
except  that  they  have  no  narrow  yard  attached  (as 
those  in  the  ground  tier  have),  and  are  somewhat 
smaller.  The  possession  of  two  of  these  is  supposed 
to  compensate  for  the  absence  of  so  much  air  and 
exercise  as  can  be  had  in  the  dull  strip  attached  to 
each  of  the  others,  in  an  hour's  time  every  day; 
and  therefore  every  prisoner  in  this  upper  story  has 
two  cells,  adjoining,  and  communicating  with,  each 
other. 

Standing  at  the  central  point,  and  looking  down 
these  dreary  passages,  the  dull  repose  and  quiet  that 
prevails  is  awful.  Occasionally  there  is  a  drowsy 
sound  from  some  lone  weaver's  shuttle,  or  shoe- 
maker's last,  but  it  is  stifled  by  the  thick  walls  and 
heavy  dungeon  door,  and  only  serves  to  make  the 
general  stillness  more  profound.  Over  the  head  and 
face  of  every  prisoner  who  comes  into  this  melan- 
choly house  a  black  hood  is  drawn ;  and  in  this  dark 
shroud,  an  emblem  of  the  curtain  dropped  between 
him  and  the  living  world,  he  is  led  to  the  cell  from 
which  he  never  again  comes  forth  until  his  whole 
term  of  imprisonment  has  expired.  He  never  hears 
of  wife  or  children ;  home  or  friends ;  the  life  or 
death  of  any  single  creature.  He  sees  the  prison 
officers,  but,  with  that  exception,  he  never  looks 
upon  a  human  countenance,  or  hears  a  human  voice. 
He  is  a  man  buried  alive ;  to  be  dug  out  in  the  slow 
10 


146  AMERICAN   NOTES 

round  of  years ;  and  in  the  meantime  dead  to  every- 
thing but  torturing  anxieties  and  horrible  despair. 

His  name,  and  crime,  and  term  of  suffering  are 
unknown,  even  to  the  officer  who  delivers  him  his 
daily  food.  There  is  a  number  over  his  cell  door, 
and  in  a  book  of  which  the  governor  of  the  prison 
has  one  copy,  and  the  moral  instructor  another :  this 
is  the  index  to  his  history.  Beyond  these  pages  the 
prison  has  no  record  of  his  existence :  and  though 
he  live  to  be  in  the  same  cell  ten  weary  years,  he 
has  no  means  of  knowing,  down  to  the  very  last 
hour,  in  what  part  of  the  building  it  is  situated ; 
what  kind  of  men  there  are  about  him ;  whether  in 
the  long  winter  nights  there  are  living  people  near, 
or  he  is  in  some  lonely  corner  of  the  great  jail,  with 
walls,  and  passages,  and  iron  doors  between  him 
and  the  nearest  sharer  in  its  solitary  horrors. 

Every  cell  has  double  doors :  the  outer  one  of 
sturdy  oak,  the  other  of  grated  iron,  wherein  there 
is  a  trap  through  which  his  food  is  handed.  He 
has  a  Bible,  and  a  slate  and  pencil,  and,  under  cer- 
tain restrictions,  has  sometimes  other  books,  pro- 
vided for  the  purpose,  and  pen  and  ink  and  paper. 
His  razor,  plate,  and  can,  and  basin  hang  upon  the 
wall,  or  shine  upon  the  little  shelf.  Fresh  water  is 
laid  on  in  every  cell,  and  he  can  draw  it  at  his 
pleasure.  During  the  day,  his  bedstead  turns  up 
against  the  wall,  and  leaves  more  space  for  him  to 
work  in.  His  loom,  or  bench,  or  wheel  is  there; 
and  there  he  labors,  sleeps  and  wakes,  and  counts 
the  seasons  as  they  change,  and  grows  old. 

The  first  man  I  saw  was  seated  at  his  loom,  at 
work.  He  had  been  there  six  years,  and  was  to 
remain,  I  think,  three  more.  He  had  been  con- 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  147 

victed  as  a  receiver  of  stolen  goods,  but  even  after 
this  long  imprisonment  denied  his  guilt,  and  said 
he  had  been  hardly  dealt  by.  It  was  his  second 
offence. 

He  stopped  his  work  when  we  went  in,  took  off 
his  spectacles,  and  answered  freely  to  everything 
that  was  said  to  him,  but  always  with  a  strange 
kind  of  pause  first,  and  in  a  low,  thoughtful  voice. 
He  wore  a  paper  hat  of  his  own  making,  and  was 
pleased  to  have  it  noticed  and  commended.  He 
had  very  ingeniously  manufactured  a  sort  of  Dutch 
clock  from  some  disregarded  odds  and  ends ;  and 
his  vinegar  bottle  served  for  the  pendulum.  Seeing 
me  interested  in  this  contrivance,  he  looked  up  at 
it  with  a  great  deal  of  pride,  and  said  that  he  had 
been  thinking  of  improving  it,  and  that  he  hoped 
the  hammer  and  a  little  piece  of  broken  glass  beside 
it  "would  play  music  before  long."  He  had  ex- 
tracted some  colors  from  the  yarn  with  which  he 
worked,  and  painted  a  few  poor  figures  on  the  wall. 
One,  of  a  female,  over  the  door,  he  called  "The 
Lady  of  the  Lake." 

He  smiled  as  I  looked  at  these  contrivances  to 
while  away  the  time;  but,  when  I  looked  from 
them  to  him,  I  saw  that  his  lip  trembled,  and 
could  have  counted  the  beating  of  his  heart.  '  I  for- 
get how  it  came  about,  but  some  allusion  was  made 
to  his  having  a  wife.  He  shook  his  head  at  the 
word,  turned  aside,  and  covered  his  face  with  his 
hands. 

"But  you  are  resigned  now?"  said  one  of  the 
gentlemen  after  a  short  pause,  during  which  he  had 
resumed  his  former  manner.  He  answered  with  a 
sigh  that  seemed  quite  reckless  in  its  hopelessness, 


148  AMERICAN  NOTES 

"  Oh,  yes !  oh,  yes !  I  am  resigned  to  it."  "  And  are  a 
better  man,  you  think  ?  "  "  Well,  I  hope  so :  I'm 
sure  I  hope  I  may  be."  "And  time  goes  pretty 
quickly  ?  "  "  Time  is  very  long,  gentlemen,  within 
these  four  walls  ! " 

He  gazed  about  him  —  Heaven  only  knows  how 
wearily  !  —  as  he  said  these  words ;  and,  in  the  act 
of  doing  so,  fell  into  a  strange  stare  as  if  he  had 
forgotten  something.  A  moment  afterwards  he 
sighed  heavily,  put  on  his  spectacles,  and  went 
about  his  work  again. 

In  another  cell  there  was  a  German,  sentenced  to 
five  years'  imprisonment  for  larceny,  two  of  which 
had  just  expired.  With  colors  procured  in  the  same 
manner,  he  had  painted  every  inch  of  the  walls  and 
ceiling  quite  beautifully.  He  had  laid  out  the  few 
feet  of  ground  behind  with  exquisite  neatness,  and 
had  made  a  little  bed  in  the  centre,  that  looked, 
by  the  by,  like  a  grave.  The  taste  and  ingenuity 
he  had  displayed  in  everything  were  most  extraor- 
dinary ;  and  yet  a  more  dejected,  heart-broken, 
wretched  creature  it  would  be  difficult  to  imagine. 
I  never  saw  such  a  picture  of  forlorn  affliction  and 
distress  of  mind.  My  heart  bled  for  him;  and 
when  the  tears  ran  down  his  cheeks,  and  he  took 
one  of  the  visitors  aside,  to  ask,  with  his  trembling 
hands  nervously  clutching  at  his  coat  to  detain  him, 
whether  there  was  no  hope  of  his  dismal  sentence 
being  commuted,  the  spectacle  was  really  too  pain- 
ful to  witness.  I  never  saw  or  heard  of  any  kind 
of  misery  that  impressed  me  more  than  the  wretch- 
edness of  this  man. 

In  a  third  cell  was  a  tall,  strong  black,  a  burglar, 
working  at  his  proper  trade  of  making  screws  and 


FOR   GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  149 

the  like.  His  time  was  nearly  out.  He  was  not 
only  a  very  dexterous  thief,  but  was  notorious  for 
his  boldness  and  hardihood,  and  for  the  number  of 
his  previous  convictions.  He  entertained  us  with  a 
long  account  of  his  achievements,  which  he  narrated 
with  such  infinite  relish,  that  he  actually  seemed  to 
lick  his  lips  as  he  told  us  racy  anecdotes  of  stolen 
plate,  and  of  old  ladies  whom  he  had  watched  as 
they  sat  at  windows  in  silver  spectacles  (he  had 
plainly  had  an  eye  to  their  metal,  even  from  the 
other  side  of  the  street),  and  had  afterwards  robbed. 
This  fellow,  upon  the  slightest  encouragement, 
would  have  mingled  with  his  professional  recollec- 
tions the  most  detestable  cant ;  but  I  am  very  much 
mistaken  if  he  could  have  surpassed  the  unmitigated 
hypocrisy  with  which  he  declared  that  he  blessed 
the  day  on  which  he  came  into  that  prison,  and 
that  he  never  would  commit  another  robbery  as 
long  as  he  lived. 

There  was  one  man  who  was  allowed,  as  an  indul- 
gence, to  keep  rabbits.  His  room  having  rather  a 
close  smell  in  consequence,  they  called  to  him  at 
the  door  to  come  out  into  the  passage.  He  com- 
plied, of  course,  and  stood  shading  his  haggard  face 
in  the  unwonted  sunlight  of  the  great  window, 
looking  as  wan  and  unearthly  as  if  he  had  been 
summoned  from  the  grave.  He  had  a  white  rabbit 
in  his  breast ;  and  when  the  little  creature,  getting 
down  upon  the  ground,  stole  back  into  the  cell,  and 
he,  being  dismissed,  crept  timidly  after  it,  I  thought 
it  would  have  been  very  hard  to  say  in  what  respect 
the  man  was  the  nobler  animal  of  the  two. 

There  was  an  English  thief,  who  had  been  there 
but  a  few  days  out  of  seven  years:  a  villanous, 


150  AMERICAN  NOTES 

low-browed,  thin-lipped  fellow,  with  a  white  face ; 
who  had  as  yet  no  relish  for  visitors,  and  who,  but 
for  the  additional  penalty,  would  have  gladly 
stabbed  me  with  his  shoemaker's  knife.  There  was 
another  German  who  had  entered  the  jail  but 
yesterday,  and  who  started  from  his  bed  when  we 
looked  in,  and  pleaded,  in  his  broken  English,  very 
hard  for  work.  There  was  a  poet,  who,  after  doing 
two  days'  work  in  every  four  and  twenty  hours,  one 
for  himself  and  one  for  the  prison,  wrote  verses 
about  ships  (he  was  by  trade  a  mariner),  and  the 
"maddening  wine-cup,"  and  his  friends  at  home. 
There  were  very  many  of  them.  Some  reddened  at 
the  sight  of  visitors,  and  some  turned  very  pale. 
Some  two  or  three  had  prisoner  nurses  with  them,  for 
they  were  very  sick,  and  one,  a  fat  old  negro,  whose 
leg  had  been  taken  off  within  the  jail,  had  for  his 
attendant  a  classical  scholar  and  an  accomplished 
surgeon,  himself  a  prisoner  likewise.  Sitting  upon 
the  stairs,  engaged  in  some  slight  work,  was  a 
pretty  colored  boy.  "  Is  there  no  refuge  for  young 
criminals  in  Philadelphia,  then  ?  "  said  I.  "  Yes, 
but  only  for  white  children."  Noble  aristocracy  in 
crime ! 

There  was  a  sailor  who  had  been  there  upwards 
of  eleven  years,  and  who  in  a  few  months'  time 
would  be  free.  Eleven  years  of  solitary  confine- 
ment! 

"  I  am  very  glad  to  hear  your  time  is  nearly  out." 
What  does  he  say  ?  Nothing.  Why  does  he  stare 
at  his  hands,  and  pick  the  flesh  upon  his  fingers, 
and  raise  his  eyes  for  an  instant,  every  now  and 
then,  to  those  bare  walls  which  have  seen  his  head 
turn  gray  ?  It  is  a  way  he  has  sometimes. 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  151 

Does  lie  never  look  men  in  the  face,  and  does  he 
always  pluck  at  those  hands  of  his,  as  though  he 
were  bent  on  parting  skin  and  bone  ?  It  is  his 
humor :  nothing  more. 

It  is  his  humor,  too,  to  say  that  he  does  not  look 
forward  to  going  out ;  that  he  is  not  glad  the  time 
is  drawing  near;  that  he  did  look  forward  to  it 
once,  but  that  was  very  long  ago ;  that  he  has  lost 
all  care  for  everything.  It  is  his  humor  to  be  a  help- 
less, crushed,  and  broken  man.  And,  Heaven  be  his 
witness  that  he  has  his  humor  thoroughly  gratified ! 

There  were  three  young  women  in  adjoining  cells, 
all  convicted  at  the  same  time  of  a  conspiracy  to 
rob  their  prosecutor.  In  the  silence  and  solitude 
of  their  lives  they  had  grown  to  be  quite  beautiful. 
Their  looks  were  very  sad,  and  might  have  moved 
the  sternest  visitor  to  tears,  but  not  to  that  kind  of 
sorrow  which  the  contemplation  of  the  men  awakens. 
One  was  a  young  girl ;  not  twenty,  as  I  recollect ; 
whose  snow-white  room  was  hung  with  the  work  of 
some  former  prisoner,  arid  upon  whose  downcast  face 
the  sun  in  all  its  splendor  shone  down  through  the 
high  chink'  in  the  wall,  where  one  narrow  strip  of 
bright  blue  sky  was  visible.  She  was  very  penitent 
and  quiet ;  had  come  to  be  resigned,  she  said  (and  I 
believe  her)  ;  and  had  a  mind  at  peace.  "  In  a  word, 
you  are  happy  here  ?  "  said  one  of  my  companions. 
She  struggled  —  she  did  struggle  very  hard  —  to 
answer,  Yes :  but  raising  her  eyes,  and  meeting 
that  glimpse  of  freedom  overhead,  she  burst  into 
tears,  and  said,  "She  tried  to  be;  she  uttered  no 
complaint ;  but  it  was  natural  that  she  should  some- 
times long  to  go  out  of  that  one  cell :  she  could  not 
help  that,"  she  sobbed,  poor  thing ! 


152  AMERICAN  NOTES 

I  went  from  cell  to  cell  that  day ;  and  every  face 
I  saw,  or  word  I  heard,  or  incident  I  noted,  is  pres- 
ent to  my  niind  in  all  its  painfulness.  But  let  me 
pass  them  by,  for  one,  more  pleasant,  glance  of  a 
prison  on  the  same  plan  which  I  afterwards  saw  at 
Pittsburg. 

When  I  had  gone  over  that  in  the  same  manner, 
I  asked  the  governor  if  he  had  any  person  in  his 
charge  who  was  shortly  going  out.  He  had  one,  he 
said,  whose  time  was  up  next  day ;  but  he  had  only 
been  a  prisoner  two  years. 

Two  years  !  I  looked  back  through  two  years  in 
my  own  life  —  out  of  jail,  prosperous,  happy,  sur- 
rounded by  blessings,  comforts,  and  good  fortune  — 
and  thought  how  wide  a  gap  it  was,  and  how  long 
those  two  years  passed  in  solitary  captivity  would 
have  been.  I  have  the  face  of  this  man,  who  was 
going  to  be  released  next  day,  before  me  now.  It  is 
almost  more  memorable  in  its  happiness  than  the 
other  faces  in  their  misery.  How  easy  and  how 
natural  it  was  for  him  to  say  that  the  system  was 
a  good  one ;  and  that  the  time  went  "  pretty  quick 
—  considering;"  and  that  when  a  man  once  felt  he 
had  offended  the  law,  and  must  satisfy  it,  "  he  got 
along  somehow  ; "  and  so  forth ! 

"  What  did  he  call  you  back  to  say  to  you,  in  that 
strange  flutter  ?  "  I  asked  of  my  conductor,  when  he 
had  locked  the  door  and  joined  me  in  the  passage. 

"  Oh !  That  he  was  afraid  the  soles  of  his  boots 
were  not  fit  for  walking,  as  they  were  a  good  deal 
worn  when  he  came  in ;  and  that  he  would  thank 
me  very  much  to  have  them  mended  ready." 

Those  boots  had  been  taken  off  his  feet,  and  put 
away  with  the  rest  of  his  clothes,  two  years  before ! 


FOR   GENERAL   CIRCULATION.  153 

I  took  that  opportunity  of  inquiring  how  they  con- 
ducted themselves  immediately  before  going  out; 
adding  that  I  presumed  they  trembled  very  much. 

"Well,  it's  not  so  much  a  trembling,"  was  the 
answer  —  "though  they  do  quiver  —  as  a  complete 
derangement  of  the  nervous  system.  They  can't 
sign  their  names  to  the  book ;  sometimes  can't  even 
hold  the  pen ;  look  about  'em  without  appearing  to 
know  why,  or  where  they  are ;  and  sometimes  get 
up  and  sit  down  again  twenty  times  in  a  minute. 
This  is  when  they're  in  the  office,  where  they  are 
taken  with  the  hood  on  as  they  were  brought  in. 
When  they  get  outside  the  gate,  they  stop,  and  look 
h'rst  one  way  and  then  the  other :  not  knowing  which 
to  take.  Sometimes  they  stagger  as  if  they  were 
drunk,  and  sometimes  are  forced  to  lean  against  the 
fence,  they're  so  bad:  —  but  they  clear  off  in  course 
of  time." 

As  I  walked  among  these  solitary  cells,  and  looked 
at  the  faces  of  the  men  within  them,  I  tried  to  pic- 
ture to  myself  the  thoughts  and  feelings  natural  to 
their  condition.  I  imagined  the  hood  just  taken  off, 
and  the  scene  of  their  captivity  disclosed  to  them  in 
all  its  dismal  monotony. 

At  first  the  man  is  stunned.  His  confinement  is 
a  hideous  vision ;  and  his  old  life  a  reality.  He 
throws  himself  upon  his  bed,  and  lies  there  aban- 
doned to  despair.  By  degrees  the  insupportable 
solitude  and  barrenness  of  the  place  rouses  him 
from  this  stupor,  and  when  the  trap  in  his  grated 
door  is  opened,  he  humbly  begs  and  prays  for  work. 
"  Give  me  some  work  to  do,  or  I  shall  go  raving 
mad ! " 

He  has  it ;  and  by  fits  and  starts  applies  himself 


154  AMERICAN   NOTES 

to  labor ;  but  every  now  and  then  there  comes  upon 
him  a  burning  sense  of  the  years  that  must  be  wasted 
in  that  stone  coffin,  and  an  agony  so  piercing  in  the 
recollection  of  those  who  are  hidden  from  his  view 
and  knowledge,  that  he  starts  from  his  seat,  and, 
striding  up  and  down  the  narrow  room  with  both 
hands  clasped  on  his  uplifted  head,  hears  spirits 
tempting  him  to  beat  his  brains  out  on  the  wall. 

Again  he  falls  upon  his  bed,  and  lies  there  moan- 
ing. Suddenly  he  starts  up,  wondering  whether  any 
other  man  is  near ;  whether  there  is  another  cell  like 
that  on  either  side  of  him ;  and  listens  keenly. 

There  is  no  sound,  but  other  prisoners  may  be 
near  for  all  that.  He  remembers  to  have  heard 
once,  when  he  little  thought  of  coming  here  him- 
self, that  the  cells  were  so  constructed  that  the 
prisoners  could  not  hear  each  other,  though  the 
officers  could  hear  them.  Where  is  the  nearest 
man  —  upon  the  right,  or  on  the  left  ?  or  is  there 
one  in  both  directions  ?  Where  is  he  sitting  now  — 
with  his  face  to  the  light  ?  or  is  he  walking  to  and 
fro  ?  How  is  he  dressed  ?  Has  he  been  here  long  ? 
Is  he  much  worn  away  ?  Is  he  very  white  and  spec- 
tre-like ?  Does  he  think  of  his  neighbor  too  ? 

Scarcely  venturing  to  breathe,  and  listening  while 
he  thinks,  he  conjures  up  a  figure  with  his  back 
towards  him,  and  imagines  it  moving  about  in  this 
next  cell.  He  has  no  idea  of  the  face,  but  he  is 
certain  of  the  dark  form  of  a  stooping  man.  In 
the  cell  upon  the  other  side  he  puts  another  figure, 
whose  face  is  hidden  from  him  also.  Day  after  day, 
and  often  when  he  wakes  up  in  the  middle  of  the 
night,  he  thinks  of  these  two  men  until  he  is  almost 
distracted.  He  never  changes  them.  There  they 


TOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  155 

are  always  as  he  first  imagined  them  —  an  old  man 
on  the  right ;  a  younger  man  upon  the  left  —  whose 
hidden  features  torture  him  to  death,  and  have  a 
mystery  that  makes  him  tremble. 

The  weary  days  pass  on  with  solemn  pace,  like 
mourners  at  a  funeral ;  and  slowly  he  begins  to  feel 
that  the  white  walls  of  the  cell  have  something  dread- 
ful in  them :  that  their  color  is  horrible  :  that  their 
smooth  surface  chills  his  blood:  that  there  is  one 
hateful  corner  which  torments  him.  Every  morn- 
ing, when  he  wakes,  he  hides  his  head  beneath  the 
coverlet,  and  shudders  to  see  the  ghastly  ceiling 
looking  down  upon  him.  The  blessed  light  of  day 
itself  peeps  in,  an  ugly  phantom  face,  through  the 
unchangeable  crevice  which  is  his  prison  window. 

By  slow  but  sure  degrees,  the  terrors  of  that  hate- 
ful corner  swell  until  they  beset  him  at  all  times ; 
invade  his  rest,  make  his  dreams  hideous,  and  his 
nights  dreadful.  At  first  he  took  a  strange  dislike 
to  it :  feeling  as  though  it  gave  birth  in  his  brain  to 
something  of  corresponding  shape,  which  ought  not 
to  be  there,-  and  racked  his  head  with  pains.  Then 
he  began  to  fear  it,  then  to  dream  of  it,  and  of  men 
whispering  its  name  and  pointing  to  it.  Then  he 
could  not  bear  to  look  at  it,  nor  yet  to  turn  his  back 
upon  it.  Now,  it  is  every  night  the  lurking-place  of 
a  ghost :  a  shadow :  —  a  silent  something,  horrible 
to  see,  but  whether  bird,  or  beast,  or  muffled  human 
shape,  he  cannot  tell. 

When  he  is  in  his  cell  by  day,  he  fears  the  little 
yard  without.  When  he  is  in  the  yard,  he  dreads  to 
re-enter  the  cell.  When  night  comes,  there  stands 
the  phantom  in  the  corner.  If  he  have  the  courage 
to  stand  in  its  place,  and  drive  it  out  (he  had  once : 


156  AMERICAN  NOTES 

being  desperate),  it  broods  upon  his  bed.  In  the 
twilight,  and  always  at  the  same  hour,  a  voice  calls 
to  him  by  name ;  as  the  darkness  thickens,  his  Loom, 
begins  to  live ;  and  even  that,  his  comfort,  is  a  hide- 
ous figure,  watching  him  till  daybreak. 

Again,  by  slow  degrees,  these  horrible  fancies 
depart  from  him  one  by  one ;  returning  sometimes 
unexpectedly,  but  at  longer  intervals,  and  in  less 
alarming  shapes.  He  has  talked  upon  religious 
matters  with  the  gentleman  who  visits  him,  and  has 
read  his  Bible,  and  has  written  a  prayer  upon  his 
slate,  and  hung  it  up  as  a  kind  of  protection,  and 
an  assurance  of  Heavenly  companionship.  He 
dreams  now,  sometimes,  of  his  children  or  his  wife, 
but  is  sure  that  they  are  dead,  or  have  deserted 
him.  He  is  easily  moved  to  tears ;  is  gentle,  sub- 
missive, and  broken-spirited.  Occasionally  the  old 
agony  comes  back :  a  very  little  thing  will  revive 
it:  even  a  familiar  sound,  or  the  scent  of  summer 
flowers  in  the  air ;  but  it  does  not  last  long  now : 
for  the  world  without  has  come  to  be  the  vision,  and 
this  solitary  life  the  sad  reality. 

If  his  term  of  imprisonment  be  short  —  I  mean 
comparatively,  for  short  it  cannot  be  —  the  last 
half-year  is  almost  worse  than  all;  for  then  he 
thinks  the  prison  will  take  fire,  and  he  be  burnt  in 
the  ruins,  or  that  he  is  doomed  to  die  within  the 
walls,  or  that  he  will  be  detained  on  some  false 
charge,  and  sentenced  for  another  term:  or  that 
something,  no  matter  what,  must  happen  to  prevent 
his  going  at  large.  And  this  is  natural,  and  impos- 
sible to  be  reasoned  against,  because,  after  his  long 
separation  from  human  life,  and  his  great  suffering, 
any  event  will  appear  to  him  more  probable  in  the 


FOB  GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  157 

contemplation  than  the  being  restored  to  liberty  and 
his  fellow-creatures. 

If  his  period  of  confinement  have  been  very  long, 
the  prospect  of  release  bewilders  and  confuses  him. 
His  broken  heart  may  flutter  for  a  moment,  when 
he  thinks  of  the  world  outside,  and  what  it  might 
have  been  to  him  in  all  those  lonely  years,  but  that 
is  all.  The  cell  door  has  been  closed  too  long  on 
all  its  hopes  and  cares.  Better  to  have  hanged  him 
in  the  beginning  than  bring  him  to  this  pass,  and 
send  him  forth  to  mingle  with  his  kind,  who  are  his 
kind  no  more. 

On  the  haggard  face  of  every  man  among  these 
prisoners  the  same  expression  sat.  I  know  not 
what  to  liken  it  to.  It  had  something  of  that 
strained  attention  which  we  see  upon  the  faces  of 
the  blind  and  deaf,  mingled  with  a  kind  of  horror, 
as  though  they  had  all  been  secretly  terrified.  In 
every  little  chamber  that  I  entered,  and  at  every 
grate  through  which  I  looked,  I  seemed  to  see  the 
same  appalling  countenance.  It  lives  in  my  mem- 
ory, with  the  fascination  of  a  remarkable  picture. 
Parade  before  my  eyes  a  hundred  men,  with  one 
among  them  newly  released  from  this  solitary  suf- 
fering, and  I  would  point  him  out. 

The  faces  of  the  women,  as  I  have  said,  it  hu- 
manizes and  refines.  Whether  this  be  because  of 
their  better  nature,  which  is  elicited  in  solitude,  or 
because  of  their  being  gentler  creatures,  of  greater 
patience  and  longer  suffering,  I  do  not  know ;  but 
so  it  is.  That  the  punishment  is  nevertheless,  to 
my  thinking,  fully  as  cruel  and  as  wrong  in  their 
case  as  in  that  of  the  men,  I  need  scarcely  add. 

My  firm  conviction  is  that,  independent  of  the 


158  AMERICAN  NOTES 

mental  anguish  it  occasions  —  an  anguish  so  acute 
and  so  tremendous,  that  all  imagination  of  it  must 
fall  far  short  of  the  reality  —  it  wears  the  mind 
into  a  morbid  state,  which  renders  it  unfit  for  the 
rough  contact  and  busy  action  of  the  world.  It  is 
my  fixed  opinion  that  those  who  have  undergone 
this  punishment  MUST  pass  into  society  again  mor- 
ally unhealthy  and  diseased.  There  are  many  in- 
stances on  record  of  men  who  have  chosen,  or  have 
been  condemned,  to  lives  of  perfect  solitude,  but  I 
scarcely  remember  one,  even  among  sages  of  strong 
and  vigorous  intellect,  where  its  effect  has  not  be- 
come apparent,  in  some  disordered  train  of  thought, 
or  some  gloomy  hallucination.  What  monstrous 
phantoms,  bred  of  despondency  and  doubt,  and  born 
and  reared  in  solitude,  have  stalked  upon  the  earth, 
making  creation  ugly,  and  darkening  the  face  of 
Heaven ! 

Suicides  are  rare  among  these  prisoners :  are 
almost,  indeed,  unknown.  But  no  argument  in 
favor  of  the  system  can  reasonably  be  deduced  from 
this  circumstance,  although  it  is  very  often  urged. 
All  men  who  have  made  diseases  of  the  mind  their 
study,  know  perfectly  well  that  such  extreme  de- 
pression and  despair  as  will  change  the  whole  char- 
acter, and  beat  down  all  its  powers  of  elasticity  and 
self-resistance,  may  be  at  work  within  a  man,  and 
yet  stop  short  of  self-destruction.  This  is  a  com- 
mon case. 

That  it  makes  the  senses  dull,  and  by  degrees 
impairs  the  bodily  faculties,  I  am  quite  sure.  I 
remarked  to  those  who  were  with  me  in  this  very 
establishment  at  Philadelphia,  that  the  criminals 
who  had  been  there  long  were  deaf.  They,  who 


FOR   GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  159 

were  in  the  habit  of  seeing  these  men  constantly, 
were  perfectly  amazed  at  the  idea,  which  they  re- 
garded as  groundless  and  fanciful.  And  yet  the 
very  first  prisoner  to  whom  they  appealed  —  one  of 
their  own  selection  —  confirmed  my  impression 
(which  was  unknown  to  him)  instantly,  and  said, 
with  a  genuine  air  it  was  impossible  to  doubt,  that 
he  couldn't  think  how  it  happened,  but  he  was 
growing  very  dull  of  hearing. 

That  it  is  a  singularly  unequal  punishment,  and 
affects  the  worst  man  least,  there  is  no  doubt.  la 
its  superior  efficiency  as  a  means  of  reformation, 
compared  with  that  other  code  of  regulations  which 
allows  the  prisoners  to  work  in  company  without 
communicating  together,  I  have  not  the  smallest 
faith.  All  the  instances  of  reformation  that  were 
mentioned  to  me  were  of  a  kind  that  might  have 
been  —  and  I  have  no  doubt  whatever,  in  my  own 
mind,  would  have  been  —  equally  well  brought 
about  by  the  Silent  System.  With  regard  to  such 
men  as  the  negro  burglar  and  the  English  thief, 
even  the  most  enthusiastic  have  scarcely  any  hope 
of  their  conversion. 

It  seems  to  me  that  the  objection  that  nothing 
wholesome  or  good  has  ever  had  its  growth  in  such 
unnatural  solitude,  and  that  even  a  dog,  or  any  of 
the  more  intelligent  among  beasts,  would  pine,  and 
mope,  and  rust  away  beneath  its  influence,  would  be 
in  itself  a  sufficient  argument  against  this  system. 
But  when  we  recollect,  in  addition,  how  very  cruel 
and  severe  it  is,  and  that  a  solitary  life  is  always 
liable  to  peculiar  and  distinct  objections  of  a  most  de- 
plorable nature,  which  have  arisen  here  ;  and  call  to 
mind,  moreover,  that  the  choice  is  not  between  this 


160  AMERICAN  NOTES 

system  and  a  bad  or  ill-considered  one,  but  between 
it  and  another  which  has  worked  well,  and  is,  in  its 
whole  design  and  practice,  excellent ;  there  is  surely 
more  than  sufficient  reason  for  abandoning  a  mode 
of  punishment  attended  by  so  little  hope  or  promise, 
and  fraught,  beyond  dispute,  with  such  a  host  of 
evils. 

As  a  relief  to  its  contemplation,  I  will  close  this 
chapter  with  a  curious  story,  arising  out  of  the  same 
theme,  which  was  related  to  me,  on  the  occasion  of 
this  visit,  by  some  of  the  gentlemen  concerned. 

At  one  of  the  periodical  meetings  of  the  inspec- 
tors of  this  prison,  a  working-man  of  Philadelphia 
presented  himself  before  the  Board,  and  earnestly 
requested  to  be  placed  in  solitary  confinement.  On 
being  asked  what  motive  could  possibly  prompt 
him  to  make  this  strange  demand,  he  answered  that 
he  had  an  irresistible  propensity  to  get  drunk ;  that 
he  was  constantly  indulging  in  it,  to  his  great  mis- 
ery and  ruin ;  that  he  had  no  power  of  resistance ; 
that  he  wished  to  be  put  beyond  the  reach  of  temp- 
tation; and  that  he  could  think  of  no  better  way 
than  this.  It  was  pointed  out  to  him,  in  reply,  that 
the  prison  was  for  criminals  who  had  been  tried 
and  sentenced  by  the  law,  and  could  not  be  made 
available  for  any  such  fanciful  purposes;  he  was 
exhorted  to  abstain  from  intoxicating  drinks,  as  he 
surely  might  if  he  would ;  and  received  other  very 
good  advice,  with  which  he  retired,  exceedingly  dis- 
satisfied with  the  result  of  his  application. 

He  came  again,  and  again,  and  again,  and  was  so 
very  earnest  and  importunate,  that  at  last  they  took 
counsel  together,  and  said,  "  He  will  certainly 
qualify  himself  for  admission,  if  we  reject  him  any 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  161 

more.  Let  us  shut  him  up.  He  will  soon  be  glad 
to  go  away,  and  then  we  shall  get  rid  of  him."  So 
they  made  him  sign  a  statement  which  would  pre- 
vent his  ever  sustaining  an  action  for  false  impris- 
onment, to  the  effect  that  his  incarceration  was 
voluntary,  and  of  his  own  seeking ;  they  requested 
him  to  take  notice  that  the  officer  in  attendance  had 
orders  to  release  him  at  any  hour  of  the  day  or 
night,  when  he  might  knock  upon  his  door  for  that 
purpose ;  but  desired  him  to  understand,  that  once 
going  out,  he  would  not  be  admitted  any  more. 
These  conditions  agreed  upon,  and  he  still  remain- 
ing in  the  same  mind,  he  was  conducted  to  the 
prison,  and  shut  up  in  one  of  the  cells. 

In  this  cell,  the  man  who  had  not  the  firmness  to 
leave  a  glass  of  liquor  standing  untasted  on  a  table 
before  him  —  in  this  cell,  in  solitary  confinement, 
and  working  every  day  at  his  trade  of  shoemaking, 
this  man  remained  nearly  two  years.  His  health 
beginning  to  fail  at  the  expiration  of  that  time,  the 
surgeon  recommended  that  he  should  work  occasion- 
ally in  the  garden  ;  and.  as  he  liked  the  notion  very 
much,  he  went  about  this  new  occupation  with 
great  cheerfulness. 

He  was  digging  here,  one  summer  day,  very  in- 
dustriously, when  the  wicket  in  the  outer  gate 
chanced  to  be  left  open ;  showing,  beyond,  the  well- 
remembered  dusty  road  and  sunburnt  fields.  The 
way  was  as  free  to  him  as  to  any  man  living,  but 
he  no  sooner  raised  his  head  and  caught  sight  of  it, 
all  shining  in  the  light,  than,  with  the  involuntary 
instinct  of  a  prisoner,  he  cast  away  his  spade,  scam- 
pered off  as  fast  as  his  legs  would  carry  him,  and 
never  once  looked  back. 
11 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

WASHINGTON.  — THE   LEGISLATURE.  — AND    THE    PRESI- 
DENT'S   HOUSE. 

WE  left  Philadelphia  by  steamboat,  at  six 
o'clock  one  very  cold  morning,  and  turned  our  faces 
towards  Washington. 

In  the  course  of  this  day's  journey,  as  on  subse- 
quent occasions,  we  encountered  some  Englishmen 
(small  farmers,  perhaps,  or  country  publicans  at 
home)  who  were  settled  in  America,  and  were  trav- 
elling on  their  own  affairs.  Of  all  grades  and  kinds 
of  men  that  jostle  one  in  the  public  conveyances  of 
the  States,  these  are  often  the  most  intolerable  and 
the  most  insufferable  companions.  United  to  every 
disagreeable  characteristic  that  the  worst  kind  of 
American  travellers  possess,  these  countrymen  of 
ours  display  an  amount  of  insolent  conceit  and 
cool  assumption  of  superiority  quite  monstrous  to 
behold.  In  the  coarse  familiarity  of  their  approach, 
and  the  effrontery  of  their  inquisitiveness  (which 
they  are  in  great  haste  to  assert,  as  if  they  panted 
to  revenge  themselves  upon  the  decent  old  restraints 
of  home),  they  surpass  any  native  specimens  that 
came  within  my  range  of  observation :  and  I  often 
grew  so  patriotic  when  I  saw  and  heard  them,  that 
162 


AMERICAN  NOTES.  163 

I  would  cheerfully  have  submitted  to  a  reasonable 
fine,  if  I  could  have  given  any  other  country  in 
the  whole  world  the  honor  of  claiming  them  for 
its  children. 

As  Washington  may  be  called  the  headquarters 
of  tobacco-tinctured  saliva,  the  time  is  come  when 
I  must  confess,  without  any  disguise,  that  the  prev- 
alence of  those  two  odious  practices  of  chewing  and 
expectorating  began  about  this  time  to  be  anything 
but  agreeable,  and  soon  became  most  offensive  and 
sickening.  In  all  the  public  places  of  America 
this  filthy  custom  is  recognized.  In  the  courts 
of  law  the  judge  has  his  spittoon,  the  crier 
his,  the  witness  his,  and  the  prisoner  his ;  while 
the  jurymen  and  spectators  are  provided  for,  as 
so  many  men  who  in  the  course  of  nature  must 
desire  to  spit  incessantly.  In  the  hospitals  the 
students  of  medicine  are  requested,  by  notices 
upon  the  wall,  to  eject  their  tobacco  juice  into  the 
boxes  provided  for  that  purpose,  and  not  to  discolor 
the  stairs.  In  public  buildings  visitors  are  implored, 
through  the  .same  agency,  to  squirt  the  essence  of 
their  quids,  or  "  plugs,"  as  I  have  heard  them  called 
by  gentlemen  learned  in  this  kind  of  sweetmeat, 
into  the  national  spittoons,  and  not  about  the  bases 
of  the  marble  columns.  But  in  some  parts  this 
custom  is  inseparably  mixed  up  with  every  meal 
and  morning  call,  and  with  all  the  transactions  of 
social  life.  The  stranger,  who  follows  in  the  track 
I  took  myself,  will  find  it  in  its  full  bloom  and 
glory,  luxuriant  in  all  its  alarming  recklessness,  at 
Washington.  And  let  him  not  persuade  himself 
(as  I  once  did,  to  my  shame)  that  previous  tourists 
have  exaggerated  its  extent.  The  thing  itself  is  an 


164  AMERICAN   NOTES 

exaggeration  of  nastiness,  which  cannot  be  out- 
done. 

On  board  this  steamboat  there  were  two  young 
gentlemen,  with  shirt  collars  reversed  as  usual,  and 
armed  with  very  big  walking-sticks ;  who  planted 
two  seats  in  the  middle  of  the  deck,  at  a  distance  of 
some  four  paces  apart;  took  out  their  tobacco 
boxes ;  and  sat  down  opposite  each  other  to  chew. 
In  less  than  a  quarter  of  an  hour's  time,  these  hope- 
ful youths  had  shed  about  them,  on  the  clean 
boards,  a  copious  shower  of  yellow  rain ;  clearing, 
by  that  means,  a  kind  of  magic  circle,  within 
whose  limits  no  intruders  dared  to  come,  and  which 
they  never  failed  to  refresh  and  re-refresh  before  a 
spot  was  dry.  This  being  before  breakfast,  rather 
disposed  me,  I  confess,  to  nausea;  but  looking  at- 
tentively at  one  of  the  expectorators,  I  plainly  saw 
that  he  was  young  in  chewing,  and  felt  inwardly 
uneasy  himself.  A  glow  of  delight  came  over  me 
at  this  discovery ;  and,  as  I  marked  his  face  turn 
paler  and  paler,  and  saw  the  ball  of  tobacco  in  his 
left  cheek  quiver  with  his  suppressed  agony,  while 
yet  he  spat,  and  chewed,  and  spat  again,  in  emula- 
tion of  his  older  friend,  I  could  have  fallen  on  his 
neck  and  implored  him  to  go  on  for  hours. 

We  all  sat  down  to  a  comfortable  breakfast  in  the 
cabin  below,  where  there  was  no  more  hurry  or  con- 
fusion than  at  such  a  meal  in  England,  and  where 
there  was  certainly  greater  politeness  exhibited 
than  at  most  of  our  stage-coach  banquets.  At 
about  nine  o'clock  we  arrived  at  the  railroad  station, 
and  went  on  by  the  cars.  At  noon  we  turned  out 
again,  to  cross  a  wide  river  in  another  steamboat ; 
landed  at  a  continuation  of  the  railroad  on  the 


FOE   GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  165 

opposite  shore ;  and  went  on  by  other  cars ;  in 
which,  in  the  course  of  the  next  hour  or  so,  we 
crossed  by  wooden  bridges,  each  a  mile  in  length, 
two  creeks,  called  respectively  Great  and  Little 
Gunpowder.  The  water  in  both  was  blackened  with 
flights  of  canvas-backed  ducks,  which  are  most  de- 
licious eating,  and  abound  hereabouts  at  that  season 
of  the  year. 

These  bridges  are  of  wood,  have  no  parapet,  and 
are  only  just  wide  enough  for  the  passage  of  the 
trains ;  which,  in  the  event  of  the  smallest  accident, 
would  inevitably  be  plunged  into  the  river.  They 
are  startling  contrivances,  and  are  most  agreeable 
when  passed. 

We  stopped  to  dine  at  Baltimore,  and,  being  now 
in  Maryland,  were  waited  on,  for  the  first  time,  by 
slaves.  The  sensation  of  exacting  any  service 
from  human  creatures  who  are  bought  and  sold,  and 
being,  for  the  time,  a  party,  as  it  were,  to  their 
condition,  is  not  an  enviable  one.  The  institution 
exists,  perhaps,  in  its  least  repulsive  and  most  miti- 
gated form  in  such  a  town  as  this ;  but  it  is  slav- 
ery ;  and  though  I  was,  with  respect  to  it,  an  inno- 
cent man,  its  presence  filled  me  with  a  sense  of 
shame  and  self-reproach. 

After  dinner  we  went  down  to  the  railroad  again, 
and  took  our  seats  in  the  cars  for  Washington. 
Being  rather  early,  those  men  and  boys  who  hap- 
pened to  have  nothing  particular  to  do,  and  were 
curious  in  foreigners,  came  (according  to  custom) 
round  the  carriage  in  which  I  sat ;  let  down  all  the 
windows ;  thrust  in  their  heads  and  shoulders ; 
hooked  themselves  on  conveniently  by  their  elbows ; 
and  fell  to  comparing  notes  on  the  subject  of  my 


166  AMERICAN   NOTES 

personal  appearance,  with  as  much  indifference  as 
if  I  were  a  stuffed  figure.  I  never  gained  so  much 
uncompromising  information  with  reference  to  my 
own  nose  and  eyes,  the  various  impressions  wrought 
by  my  mouth  and  chin  on  different  minds,  and  how 
my  head  looks  when  it  is  viewed  from  behind,  as  on 
these  occasions.  Some  gentlemen  were  only  satis- 
fied by  exercising  their  sense  of  touch ;  and  the 
boys  (who  are  surprisingly  precocious  in  America) 
were  seldom  satisfied  even  by  that,  but  would  re- 
turn to  the  charge  over  and  over  again.  Many  a 
budding  president  has  walked  into  my  room  with 
his  cap  on  his  head  and  his  hands  in  his  pockets, 
and  stared  at  me  for  two  whole  hours  :  occasionally 
refreshing  himself  with  a  tweak  at  his  nose,  or  a 
draught  from  the  water  jug;  or  by  walking  to  the 
windows,  and  inviting  other  boys  in  the  street 
below  to  come  up  and  do  likewise :  crying,  "  Here 
he  is ! "  "  Come  on ! "  "  Bring  all  your  brothers  ! " 
with  other  hospitable  entreaties  of  that  nature. 

We  reached  Washington  at  about  half-past  six 
that  evening,  and  had  upon  the  way  a  beautiful 
view  of  the  Capitol,  which  is  a  fine  building  of  the 
Corinthian  order,  placed  upon  a  noble  and  com- 
manding eminence.  Arrived  at  the  hotel,  I  saw  no 
more  of  the  place  that  night ;  being  very  tired,  and 
glad  to  get  to  bed. 

Breakfast  over  next  morning,  I  walk  about  the 
streets  for  an  hour  or  two,  and,  coming  home,  throw 
up  the  window  in  the  front  and  back,  and  look  out. 
Here  is  Washington,  fresh  in  my  mind  and  under 
my  eye. 

Take  the  worst  parts  of  the  City  Koad  and  Pen- 
tonville,  or  the  straggling  outskirts  of  Paris,  where 


FOR   GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  367 

the  houses  are  smallest,  preserving  all  their  oddities, 
but  especially  the  small  shops  and  dwellings  occu- 
pied in  Pentonville  (but  not  in  Washington)  by 
furniture  brokers,  keepers  of  poor  eating-houses, 
and  fanciers  of  birds.  Burn  the  whole  down  ;  build 
it  up  again  in  wood  and  plaster ;  widen  it  a  little ; 
throw  in  part  of  St.  John's  Wood ;  put  green  blinds 
outside  all  the  private  houses,  with  a  red  curtain 
and  a  white  one  in  every  window ;  plough  up  all 
the  roads ;  plant  a  great  deal  of  coarse  turf  in  every 
place  where  it  ought  not  to  be ;  erect  three  hand- 
some buildings  in  stone  and  marble  anywhere,  but 
the  more  entirely  out  of  everybody's  way  the  better ; 
call  one  the  Post  Office,  one  the  Patent  Office,  and 
one  the  Treasury ;  make  it  scorching  hot  in  the 
morning,  and  freezing  cold  in  the  afternoon,  with 
an  occasional  tornado  of  wind  and  dust;  leave  a 
brick-field,  without  the  bricks,  in  all  central  places 
where  a  street  may  naturally  be  expected;  and 
that's  Washington. 

The  hotel  in  which  we  live  is  a  long  row  of  small 
houses  fronting  on  the  street,  and  opening  at  the 
back  upon  a  common  yard,  in  which  hangs  a  great 
triangle.  Whenever  a  servant  is  wanted,  somebody 
beats  on  this  triangle  from  one  stroke  up  to  seven, 
according  to  the  number  of  the  house  in  which  his 
presence  is  required;  and  as  all  the  servants  are 
always  being  wanted,  and  none  of  them  ever  come, 
this  enlivening  engine  is  in  full  performance  the 
whole  day  through.  Clothes  are  drying  in  this 
same  yard;  female  slaves,  with  cotton  handker- 
chiefs twisted  round  their  heads,  are  running  to 
and  fro  on  the  hotel  business ;  black  waiters  cross 
and  recross  with  dishes  in  their  hands ;  two  great 


168  AMERICAN   NOTES 

dogs  are  playing  upon  a  mound  of  loose  bricks  in 
the  centre  of  the  little  square ;  a  pig  is  turning  up 
his  stomach  to  the  sun,  and  grunting  "  That's  com- 
fortable ! "  and  neither  the  men,  nor  the  women, 
nor  the  dogs,  nor  the  pig,  nor  any  created  creature 
takes  the  smallest  notice  of  the  triangle,  which  is 
tingling  madly  all  the  time. 

I  walk  to  the  front  window,  and  look  across  the 
road  upon  a  long,  straggling  row  of  houses,  one 
story  high,  terminating,  nearly  opposite,  but  a  little 
to  the  left,  in  a  melancholy  piece  of  waste  ground 
with  frowzy  grass,  which  looks  like  a  small  piece  of 
country  that  has  taken  to  drinking,  and  has  quite 
lost  itself.  Standing  anyhow  and  all  wrong,  upon 
this  open  space,  like  something  meteoric  that  has 
fallen  down  from  the  moon,  is  an  odd,  lop-sided, 
one-eyed  kind  of  wooden  building,  that  looks  like  a 
church,  with  a  flagstaff  as  long  as  itself  sticking  out 
of  a  steeple  something  larger  than  a  tea-chest. 
Under  the  window  is  a  small  stand  of  coaches, 
whose  slave  drivers  are  sunning  themselves  on  the 
steps  of  our  door,  and  talking  idly  together.  The 
three  most  obtrusive  houses  near  at  hand  are  the 
three  meanest.  On  one  —  a  shop,  which  never  has 
anything  in  the  window,  and  never  has  the  door 
open  —  is  painted  in  large  characters,  "THE  CITY 
LUNCH."  At  another,  which  looks  like  the  back- 
way  to  somewhere  else,  but  is  an  independent  build- 
ing in  itself,  oysters  are  procurable  in  every  style. 
At  the  third,  which  is  a  very,  very  little  tailor's 
shop,  pants  are  fixed  to  order ;  or,  in  other  words, 
pantaloons  are  made  to  measure.  And  that  is  our 
street  in  Washington. 

It  is  sometimes  called  the  City  of  Magnificent 


FOR   GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  169 

Distances,  but  it  might  with,  greater  propriety  be 
termed  the  City  of  Magnificent  Intentions ;  for  it 
is  only  on  taking  a  bird's-eye  view  of  it  from  the 
top  of  the  Capitol  that  one  can  at  all  comprehend 
the  vast  designs  of  its  projector,  an  aspiring  French- 
man. Spacious  avenues  that  begin  in  nothing,  and 
lead  nowhere;  streets,  mile  long,  that  only  want 
houses,  roads,  and  inhabitants ;  public  buildings 
that  need  but  a  public  to  be  complete ;  and  orna- 
ments of  great  thoroughfares,  which  only  lack  great 
thoroughfares  to  ornament  —  are  its  leading  fea- 
tures. One  might  fancy  the  season  over,  and  most 
of  the  houses  gone  out  of  town  forever  with  their 
masters.  To  the  admirers  of  cities  it  is  a  Barme- 
cide Feast ;  a  pleasant  field  for  the  imagination  to 
rove  in ;  a  monument  raised  to  a  deceased  project, 
with  not  even  a  legible  inscription  to  record  its 
departed  greatness. 

Such  as  it  is,  it  is  likely  to  remain.  It  was  origin- 
ally chosen  for  the  seat  of  Government,  as  a  means 
of  averting  the  conflicting  jealousies  and  interests 
of  the  different  States ;  and  very  probably,  too,  as 
being  remote  'from  mobs :  a  consideration  not  to  be 
slighted,  even  in  America.  It  has  no  trade  or  com- 
merce of  its  own :  having  little  or  no  population 
beyond  the  President  and  his  establishment:  the 
members  of  the  legislature,  who  reside  there  during 
the  session ;  the  Government  clerks  and  officers 
employed  in  the  various  departments ;  the  keepers 
of  the  hotels  and  boarding-houses ;  and  the  trades- 
men who  supply  their  tables.  It  is  very  unhealthy. 
Few  people  would  live  in  Washington,  I  take  it, 
who  were  not  obliged  to  reside  there ;  and  the  tides 
of  emigration  and  speculation,  those  rapid  and  re- 


170  AMERICAN   NOTES 

gardless  currents,  are  little  likely  to  flow  at  any 
time  towards  such  dull  and  sluggish  water. 

The  principal  features  of  the  Capitol  are,  of 
course,  the  two  Houses  of  Assembly.  But  there  is, 
besides,  in  the  centre  of  the  building,  a  fine  rotunda, 
ninety-six  feet  in  diameter,  and  ninety-six  high, 
whose  circular  wall  is  divided  into  compartments, 
ornamented  by  historical  pictures.  Four  of  these 
have  for  their  subjects  prominent  events  in  the 
revolutionary  struggle.  They  were  painted  by 
Colonel  Trumbull,  himself  a  member  of  Washing- 
ton's staff  at  the  time  of  their  occurrence  ;  from 
which  circumstance  they  derive  a  peculiar  interest 
of  their  own.  In  this  same  hall  Mr.  Greenough's 
large  statue  of  Washington  has  been  lately  placed. 
It  has  great  merits,  of  course,  but  it  struck  me  as 
being  rather  strained  and  violent  for  its  subject.  I 
could  wish,  however,  to  have  seen  it  in  a  better 
light  than  it  can  ever  be  viewed  in  where  it  stands. 

There  is  a  very  pleasant  and  commodious  library 
in  the  Capitol ;  and  from  a  balcony  in  front,  the 
bird's-eye  view,  of  which  I  have  just  spoken,  may 
be  had,  together  with  a  beautiful  prospect  of  the 
adjacent  country.  In  one  of  the  ornamented  por- 
tions of  the  building  there  is  a  figure  of  Justice ; 
whereunto,  the  Guide  Book  says,  "  the  artist  at  first 
contemplated  giving  more  of  nudity,  but  he  was 
warned  that  the  public  sentiment  in  this  country 
would  not  admit  of  it,  and  in  his  caution  he  has 
gone,  perhaps,  into  the  opposite  extreme."  Poor 
Justice  !  she  has  been  made  to  wear  much  stranger 
garments  in  America  than  those  she  pines  in  in  the 
Capitol.  Let  us  hope  that  she  has  changed  her 
dressmaker  since  they  were  fashioned,  and  that  the 


FOE   GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  171 

public  sentiment  of  the  country  did  not  cut  out  the 
clothes  she  hides  her  lovely  figure  in  just  now. 

The  House  of  Representatives  is  a  beautiful  and 
spacious  hall  of  semicircular  shape,  supported  by 
handsome  pillars.  One  part  of  the  gallery  is  appro- 
priated to  the  ladies,  and  there  they  sit  in  front 
rows,  and  come  in,  and  go  out,  as  at  a  play  or  con- 
cert. The  chair  is  canopied,  and  raised  considerably 
above  the  floor  of  the  House ;  and  every  member 
has  an  easy-chair  and  a  writing-desk  to  himself : 
which  is  denounced  by  some  people  out  of  doors  as 
a  most  unfortunate  and  injudicious  arrangement, 
tending  to  long  sittings  and  prosaic  speeches.  It  is 
an  elegant  chamber  to  look  at,  but  a  singularly  bad 
one  for  all  purposes  of  hearing.  The  Senate,  which 
is  smaller,  is  free  from  this  objection,  and  is  exceed- 
ingly well  adapted  to  the  uses  for  which  it  is  de- 
signed. The  sittings,  I  need  hardly  add,  take  place 
in  the  day;  and  the  parliamentary  forms  are 
modelled  on  those  of  the  old  country. 

I  was  sometimes  asked,  in  my  progress  through 
other  places,  whether  I  had  not  been  very  much 
impressed  by  the  heads  of  the  law-makers  at 
Washington ;  meaning  not  their  chiefs  and  leaders, 
but  literally  their  individual  and  personal  heads, 
whereon  their  hair  grew,  and  whereby  the  phreno- 
logical character  of  each  legislator  was  expressed ; 
and  I  almost  as  often  struck  my  questioner  dumb 
with  indignant  consternation  by  answering,  "No, 
that  I  didn't  remember  being  at  all  overcome."  As 
I  must,  at  whatever  hazard,  repeat  the  avowal  here, 
I  will  follow  it  up  by  relating  my  impressions  on 
this  subject  in  as  few  words  as  possible. 

In  the  first  place  —  it  may  be  from  some  imperfect 


172  AMEKICAN  NOTES 

development  of  my  organ  of  veneration  —  I  do  not 
remember  having  ever  fainted  away,  or  having  even 
been  moved  to  tears  of  joyful  pride,  at  sight  of  any 
legislative  body.  I  have  borne  the  House  of  Com- 
mons like  a  man,  and  have  yielded  to  no  weakness, 
but  slumber,  in  the  House  of  Lords.  I  have  seen 
elections  for  borough  and  county,  and  have  never 
been  impelled  (no  matter  which  party  won)  to  dam- 
age my  hat  by  throwing  it  up  into  the  air  in  triumph, 
or  to  crack  my  voice  by  shouting  forth  any  reference 
to  our  Glorious  Constitution,  to  the  noble  purity  of 
our  independent  voters,  or  the  unimpeachable  integ- 
rity of  our  independent  members.  Having  with- 
stood such  strong  attacks  upon  my  fortitude,  it  is 
possible  that  I  may  be  of  a  cold  and  insensible  tem- 
perament, amounting  to  iciness,  in  such  matters ; 
and  therefore  my  impressions  of  the  live  pillars  of 
the  Capitol  at  Washington  must  be  received  with 
such  grains  of  allowance  as  this  free  confession  may 
seem  to  demand. 

Did  I  see  in  this  public  body  an  assemblage  of 
men,  bound  together  in  the  sacred  names  of  Liberty 
and  Freedom,  and  so  asserting  the  chaste  dignity  of 
those  twin  goddesses,  in  all  their  discussions,  as  to 
exalt  at  once  the  Eternal  Principles  to  which  their 
names  are  given,  and  their  own  character,  and  the 
character  of  their  countrymen,  in  the  admiring  eyes 
of  the  whole  world  ? 

It  was  but  a  week  since  an  aged,  gray-haired  man, 
a  lasting  honor  to  the  land  that  gave  him  birth,  who 
has  done  good  service  to  his  country,  as  his  fore- 
fathers did,  and  who  will  be  remembered  scores  upon 
scores  of  years  after  the  worms  bred  in  its  corrup- 
tion are  but  so  many  grains  of  dust  —  it  was  but  a 


FOR   GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  173 

week  since  this  old  man  had  stood  for  days  upon  his 
trial  before  this  very  body,  charged  with  having 
dared  to  assert  the  infamy  of  that  traffic  which  has 
for  its  accursed  merchandise  men  and  women,  and 
their  unborn  children.  Yes.  And  publicly  exhib- 
ited in  the  same  city  all  the  while  ;  gilded,  framed, 
and  glazed ;  hung  up  for  general  admiration ;  shown 
to  strangers,  not  with  shame,  but  pride;  its  face 
not  turned  towards  the  wall,  itself  not  taken  down 
and  burned;  is  the  Unanimous  Declaration  of 
The  Thirteen  United  States  of  America,  which 
solemnly  declares  that  All  Men  are  created  Equal ; 
and  are  endowed  by  their  Creator  with  the  Inalien- 
able Rights  of  Life,  Liberty,  and  the  Pursuit  of 
Happiness  ! 

It  was  not  a  month  since  this  same  body  had  sat 
calmly  by,  and  heard  a  man,  one  of  themselves, 
with  oaths  which  beggars  in  their  drink  reject, 
threaten  to  cut  another's  throat  from  ear  to  ear. 
There  he  sat  among  them ;  not  crushed  by  the 
general  feeling  of  the  assembly,  but  as  good  a  man 
as  any. 

There  was- but  a  week  to  come,  and  another  of 
that  body,  for  doing  his  duty  to  those  who  sent  him 
there ;  for  claiming  in  a  .Republic  the  Liberty  and 
Freedom  of  expressing  their  sentiments,  and  making 
known  their  prayer ;  would  be  tried,  found  guilty, 
and  have  strong  censure  passed  upon  him  by  the 
rest.  His  was  a  grave  offence  indeed ;  for,  years 
before,  he  had  risen  up  and  said,  "A  gang  of  male 
and  female  slaves  for  sale,  warranted  to  breed  like 
cattle,  linked  to  each  other  by  iron  fetters,  are  pass- 
ing now  along  the  open  street  beneath  the  windows 
of  your  Temple  of  Equality  !  Look ! "  But  there 


174  AMERICAN   NOTES 

are  many  kinds  of  hunters  engaged  in  the  Pursuit 
of  Happiness,  and  they  go  variously  armed.  It  is 
the  Inalienable  Eight  of  some  among  them  to  take 
the  field  after  their  Happiness,  equipped  with  cat 
and  cart-whip,  stocks,  and  iron  collar,  and  to  shout 
their  view  halloa  (always  in  praise  of  Liberty)  to 
the  music  of  clanking  chains  and  bloody  stripes. 

Where  sat  the  many  legislators  of  coarse  threats ; 
of  words  and  blows  such  as  coalheavers  deal  upon 
each  other,  when  they  forget  their  breeding  ?  On 
every  side.  Every  session  had  its  anecdotes  of  that 
kind,  and  the  actors  were  all  there. 

Did  I  recognize  fin  this  assembly  a  body  of  men 
who,  applying  themselves  in  a  new  world  to  correct 
some  of  the  falsehoods  and  vices  of  the  old,  purified 
the  avenues  to  Public  Life,  paved  the  dirty  ways  to 
Place  and  Power,  debated  and  made  laws  for  the 
Common  Good,  and  had  no  party  but  their  Country  ? 

I  saw  in  them  the  wheels  that  move  the  meanest 
perversion  of  virtuous  Political  Machinery  that  the 
worst  tools  ever  wrought.  Despicable  trickery  at 
elections ;  under-handed  tamperings  with  public 
officers ;  cowardly  attacks  upon  opponents,  with 
scurrilous  newspapers  for  shields,  and  hired  pens  for 
daggers  ;  shameful  trucklings  to  mercenary  knaves, 
whose  claim  to  be  considered  is,  that  every  day  and 
week  they  sow  new  crops  of  ruin  with  their  venal 
types,  which  are  the  dragon's  teeth  of  yore,  in  every- 
thing but  sharpness ;  aidings  and  abettings  of  every 
bad  inclination  in  the  popular  mind,  and  artful  sup- 
pressions of  all  its  good  influences  :  such  things  as 
these,  and,  in  a  word,  Dishonest  Faction  in  its  most 
depraved  and  most  unblushing  form,  stared  out 
from  every  corner  of  the  crowded  hall. 


FOR   GENERAL   CIRCULATION.  175 

Did  I  see  among  them  the  intelligence  and  refine- 
ment :  the  true,  honest,  patriotic  heart  of  America  ? 
Here  and  there  were  drops  of  its  blood  and  life,  but 
they  scarcely  colored  the  stream  of  desperate  adven- 
turers which  sets  that  way  for  profit  and  for  pay. 
It  is  the  game  of  these  men,  and  of  their  profligate 
organs,  to  make  the  strife  of  politics  so  fierce  and 
brutal,  and  so  destructive  of  all  self-respect  in 
worthy  men,  that  sensitive  and  delicate-minded  per- 
sons shall  be  kept  aloof,  and  they,  and  such  as  they, 
be  left  to  battle  out  their  selfish  views  unchecked. 
And  thus  this  lowest  of  all  scrambling  fights  goes 
on,  and  they  who  in  other  countries  would,  from 
their  intelligence  and  station,  most  aspire  to  make 
the  laws,  do  here  recoil  the  farthest  from  that 
degradation. 

That  there  are,  among  the  representatives  of  the 
people  in  both  Houses,  and  among  all  parties,  some 
men  of  high  character  and  great  abilities,  I  need  not 
say.  The  foremost  among  those  politicians  who  are 
known  in  Europe  have  been  already  described,  and 
I  see  no  reason  to  depart  from  the  rule  I  have  laid 
down  for  my  guidance,  of  abstaining  from  all  men- 
tion of  individuals.  It  will  be  sufficient  to  add  that, 
to  the  most  favorable  accounts  that  have  been  writ- 
ten of  them,  I  more  than  fully  and  most  heartily 
subscribe;  and  that  personal  intercourse  and  free 
communication  have  bred  within  me,  not  the  result 
predicted  in  the  very  doubtful  proverb,  but  increased 
admiration  and  respect.  They  are  striking  men  to 
look  at,  hard  to  deceive,  prompt  to  act,  lions  in  en- 
ergy, Crichtons  in  varied  accomplishments,  Indians  in 
fire  of  eye  and  gesture,  Americans  in  strong  and  gen- 
erous impulse ;  and  they  as  well  represent  the  honor 


176  AMERICAN  NOTES 

and  wisdom  of  their  country  at  home,  as  the  distin- 
guished gentleman  who  is  now  its  minister  at  the 
British  Court  sustains  its  highest  character  abroad. 

I  visited  both  Houses  nearly  every  day  during  my 
stay  in  Washington.  On  my  initiatory  visit  to  the 
House  of  Representatives,  they  divided  against  a 
decision  of  the  chair;  but  the  chair  won.  The 
second  time  I  went,  the  member  who  was  speaking, 
being  interrupted  by  a  laugh,  mimicked  it,  as  one 
child  would  in  quarrelling  with  another,  and  added 
"  that  he  would  make  honorable  gentlemen  opposite 
sing  out  a  little  more  on  the  other  side  of  their 
mouths  presently."  But  interruptions  are  rare ;  the 
speaker  being  usually  heard  in  silence.  There  are 
more  quarrels  than  with  us,  and  more  threatenings 
than  gentlemen  are  accustomed  to  exchange  in  any 
civilized  society  of  which  we  have  record :  but  farm- 
yard imitations  have  not  as  yet  been  imported  from 
the  Parliament  of  the  United  Kingdom.  The  fea- 
ture in  oratory  which  appears  to  be  most  practised, 
and  most  relished,  is  the  constant  repetition  of  the 
same  idea,  or  shadow  of  an  idea,  in  fresh  words ; 
and  the  inquiry  out  of  doors  is  not,  "  What  did  he 
say  ?  "  but,  "  How  long  did  he  speak  ?  "  These, 
however,  are  but  enlargements  of  a  principle  which 
prevails  elsewhere. 

The  Senate  is  a  dignified  and  decorous  body,  and 
its  proceedings  are  conducted  with  much  gravity 
and  order.  Both  Houses  are  handsomely  carpeted ; 
but  the  state  to  which  these  carpets  are  reduced  by 
the  universal  disregard  of  the  spittoon  with  which 
every  honorable  member  is  accommodated,  and  the 
extraordinary  improvements  on  the  pattern  which 
are  squirted  and  dabbled  upon  it  in  every  direction, 


FOR   GENERAL   CIRCULATION.  177 

do  not  admit  of  being  described.  I  will  merely 
observe,  that  I  strongly  recommend  all  strangers 
not  to  look  at  the  floor ;  and  if  they  happen  to  drop 
anything,  though  it  be  their  purse,  not  to  pick  it  up 
with  an  ungloved  hand  on  any  account. 

It  is  somewhat  remarkable  too,  at  first,  to  say  the 
least,  to  see  so  many  honorable  members  with 
swelled  faces  ;  and  it  is  scarcely  less  remarkable  to 
discover  that  this  appearance  is  caused  by  the  quan- 
tity of  tobacco  they  contrive  to  stow  within  the 
hollow  of  the  cheek.  It  is  strange  enough,  too,  to 
see  an  honorable  gentleman  leaning  back  in  his  tilted 
chair,  with  his  legs  on  the  desk  before  him,  shaping 
a  convenient  "  plug  "  with  his  penknife,  and,  when  it 
is  quite  ready  for  use,  shooting  the  old  one  from  his 
mouth  as  from  a  pop-gun,  and  clapping  the  new  one 
in  its  place. 

I  was  surprised  to  observe  that  even  steady  old 
chewers  of  great  experience  are  not  always  good 
marksmen,  which  has  rather  inclined  me  to  doubt 
that  general  proficiency  with  the  rifle,  of  which  we 
have  heard  so  much  in  England.  Several  gentlemen 
called  upon  me  who,  in  the  course  of  conversation, 
frequently  missed  the  spittoon  at  five  paces;  and 
one  (but  he  was  certainly  short-sighted)  mistook 
the  closed  sash  for  the  open  window  at  three.  On 
another  occasion,  when  I  dined  out,  and  was  sitting 
with  two  ladies  and  some  gentlemen  round  a  fire 
before  dinner,  one  of  the  company  fell  short  of  the 
fireplace  six  distinct  times.  I  am  disposed  to  think, 
however,  that  this  was  occasioned  by  his  not  aiming 
at  that  object ;  as  there  was  a  white  marble  hearth 
before  the  fender,  which  was  more  convenient,  and 
may  have  suited  his  purpose  better. 
12 


178  AMERICAN   NOTES 

The  Patent  Office  at  Washington  furnishes  an 
extraordinary  example  of  American  enterprise  and 
ingenuity ;  for  the  immense  number  of  models  it 
contains  are  the  accumulated  inventions  of  only  five 
years :  the  whole  of  the  previous  collection  having 
been  destroyed  by  fire.  The  elegant  structure  in 
which  they  are  arranged  is  one  of  design  rather  than 
execution,  for  there  is  but  one  side  erected  out  of 
four,  though  the  works  are  stopped.  The  Post 
Office  is  a  very  compact  and  very  beautiful  build- 
ing. In  one  of  the  departments,  among  a  collection 
of  rare  and  curious  articles,  are  deposited  the 
presents  which  have  been  made  from  time  to  time 
to  the  American  ambassadors  at  foreign  courts  by 
the  various  potentates  to  whom  they  were  the 
accredited  agents  of  the  Republic :  gifts  which,  by 
the  law,  they  are  not  permitted  to  retain.  I  confess 
that  I  looked  upon  this  as  a  very  painful  exhibition, 
and  one  by  no  means  flattering  to  the  national 
standard  of  honesty  and  honor.  That  can  scarcely 
be  a  high  state  of  moral  feeling  which  imagines  a 
gentleman  of  repute  and  station  likely  to  be  cor- 
rupted, in  the  discharge  of  his  duty,  by  the  present 
of  a  snuff-box,  or  a  richly  mounted  sword,  or  an 
Eastern  shawl ;  and  surely  the  Nation  who  reposes 
confidence  in  her  appointed  servants  is  likely  to  be 
better  served  than  she  who  makes  them  the  subject 
of  such  very  mean  and  paltry  suspicions. 

At  George  Town,  in  the  suburbs,  there  is  a  Jesuit 
College ;  delightfully  situated,  and,  so  far  as  I  had 
an  opportunity  of  seeing,  well  managed.  Many 
persons  who  are  not  members  of  the  Romish  church 
avail  themselves,  I  believe,  of  these  institutions, 
and  of  the  advantageous  opportunities  they  afford 


FOR   GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  179 

for  the  education  of  their  children.  The  heights  in 
this  neighborhood,  above  the  Potomac  River,  are 
very  picturesque ;  and  are  free,  I  should  conceive, 
from  some  of  the  insalubrities  of  Washington.  The 
air,  at  that  elevation,  was  quite  cool  and  refreshing, 
when  in  the  city  it  was  burning  hot. 

The  President's  mansion  is  more  like  an  English 
club-house,  both  within  and  without,  than  any  other 
kind  of  establishment  with  which  I  can  compare  it. 
The  ornamental  ground  about  it  has  been  laid  out 
in  garden  walks  ;  they  are  pretty,  and  agreeable  to 
the  eye;  though  they  have  that  uncomfortable  air 
of  having  been  made  yesterday,  which  is  far  from 
favorable  to  the  display  of  such  beauties. 

My  first  visit  to  this  house  was  on  the  morning 
after  my  arrival,  when  I  was  carried  thither  by  an 
official  gentleman,  who  was  so  kind  as  to  charge 
himself  with  my  presentation  to  the  President. 

We  entered  a  large  hall,  and,  having  twice  or 
thrice  rung  a  bell  which  nobody  answered,  walked 
without  further  ceremony  through  the  rooms  on  the 
ground-floor,  as  divers  other  gentlemen  (mostly 
with  their  hats  on,  and  their  hands  in  their  pockets) 
were  doing  very  leisurely.  Some  of  these  had 
ladies  with  them,  to  whom  they  were  showing  the 
premises;  others  were  lounging  on  the  chairs  and 
sofas ;  others,  in  a  perfect  state  of  exhaustion  from 
listlessness,  were  yawning  drearily.  The  greater 
portion  of  this  assemblage  were  rather  asserting 
their  supremacy  than  doing  anything  else,  as  they 
had  no  particular  business  there,  that  anybody 
knew  of.  A  few  were  closely  eying  the  movables, 
as  if  to  make  quite  sure  that  the  President  (who 
was  far  from  popular)  had  not  made  away  with  any 


180  AMERICAN   NOTES 

of  the  furniture,  or  sold  the  fixtures  for  his  private 
benefit. 

After  glancing  at  these  loungers ;  who  were  scat- 
tered over  a  pretty  drawing-room,  opening  upon  a 
terrace  which  commanded  a  beautiful  prospect  of 
the  river  and  the  adjacent  country  ;  and  who  were 
sauntering,  too,  about  a  larger  state-room  called  the 
Eastern  Drawing-room;  we  went  upstairs  into 
another  chamber,  where  were  certain  visitors  wait- 
ing for  audiences.  At  sight  of  my  conductor,  a 
black  in  plain  clothes  and  yellow  slippers  who  was 
gliding  noiselessly  about,  and  whispering  messages 
in  the  ears  of  the  more  impatient,  made  a  sign  of 
recognition,  and  glided  off  to  announce  him. 

We  had  previously  looked  into  another  chamber 
fitted  all  round  with  a  great  bare  wooden  desk  or 
counter,  whereon  lay  files  of  newspapers,  to  which 
sundry  gentlemen  were  referring.  But  there  were 
no  such  means  of  beguiling  the  time  in  this  apart- 
ment, which  was  as  unpromising  and  tiresome  as 
any  waiting-room  in  one  of  our  public  establish- 
ments, or  any  physician's  dining-room  during  his 
hours  of  consultation  at  home. 

There  were  some  fifteen  or  twenty  persons  in  the 
room.  One,  a  tall,  wiry,  muscular  old  man,  from 
the  west ;  sunburnt  and  swarthy ;  with  a  brown- 
white  hat  on  his  knees,  and  a  giant  umbrella  resting 
between  his  legs  ;  who  sat  bolt-upright  in  his  chair, 
frowning  steadily  at  the  carpet,  and  twitching  the 
hard  lines  about  his  mouth,  as  if  he  had  made  up 
his  mind  "  to  fix  "  the  President  on  what  he  had  to 
say,  and  wouldn't  bate  him  a  grain.  Another,  a 
Kentucky  farmer,  six  feet  six  in  height,  with  his 
hat  on,  and  his  hands  under  his  coat-tails,  who 


FOE   GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  181 

leaned  against  the  wall  and  kicked  the  floor  with 
his  heel,  as  though  he  had  Time's  head  under  his 
shoe,  and  were  literally  "  killing "  him.  A  third, 
an  oval-faced,  bilious-looking  man,  with  sleek  black 
hair  cropped  close,  and  whiskers  and  beard  shaved 
down  to  blue  dots,  who  sucked  the  head  of  a  thick 
stick,  and  from  time  to  time  took  it  out  of  his  mouth 
to  see  how  it  was  getting  on.  A  fourth  did  nothing 
but  whistle.  A  fifth  did  nothing  but  spit.  And, 
indeed,  all  these  gentlemen  were  so  very  persever- 
ing and  energetic  in  this  latter  particular,  and 
bestowed  their  favors  so  abundantly  upon  the 
carpet,  that  I  take  it  for  granted  the  Presidential 
housemaids  have  high  wages,  or,  to  speak  more 
genteelly,  an  ample  amount  of  "compensation:" 
which  is  the  American  word  for  salary  in  the  case 
of  all  public  servants. 

We  had  not  waited  in  this  room  many  minutes 
before  the  black  messenger  returned,  and  conducted 
us  into  another  of  smaller  dimensions,  where,  at  a 
business-like  table  covered  with  papers,  sat  the 
President  himself.  He  looked  somewhat  worn  and 
anxious,  —  and  well  he  might :  being  at  war  with 
everybody,  —  but  the  expression  of  his  face  was 
mild  and  pleasant,  and  his  manner  was  remarkably 
unaffected,  gentlemanly,  and  agreeable.  I  thought 
that,  in  his  whole  carriage  and  demeanor,  he  became 
his  station  singularly  well. 

Being  advised  that  the  sensible  etiquette  of  the 
republican  court  admitted  of  a  traveller,  like  my- 
self, declining,  without  any  impropriety,  an  invita- 
tion to  dinner,  which  did  not  reach  me  until  I  had 
concluded  my  arrangements  for  leaving  Washington 
some  days  before  that  to  which  it  referred,  I  only 


182  AMERICAN  NOTES 

returned  to  this  house  once.  It  was  on  the  occa- 
sion of  one  of  those  general  assemblies  which  are 
held  on  certain  nights,  between  the  hours  of  nine 
and  twelve  o'clock,  and  are  called,  rather  oddly, 
Levees. 

I  went,  with  my  wife,  at  about  ten.  There  was 
a  pretty  dense  crowd  of  carriages  and  people  in  the 
courtyard,  and,  so  far  as  I  could  make  out,  there 
were  no  very  clear  regulations  for  the  taking  up  or 
setting  down  of  company.  There  were  certainly 
no  policemen  to  soothe  startled  horses,  either  by 
sawing  at  their  bridles  or  flourishing  truncheons  in 
their  eyes ;  and  I  am  ready  to  make  oath  that  no 
inoffensive  persons  were  knocked  violently  on  the 
head,  or  poked  acutely  in  their  backs  or  stomachs ; 
or  brought  to  a  stand-still  by  any  such  gentle  means, 
and  then  taken  into  custody  for  not  moving  on. 
But  there  was  no  confusion  or  disorder.  Our  car- 
riage reached  the  porch  in  its  turn,  without  any 
blustering,  swearing,  shouting,  backing,  or  other 
disturbance :  and  we  dismounted  with  as  much  ease 
and  comfort  as  though  we  had  been  escorted  by  the 
whole  Metropolitan  Force,  from  A  to  Z  inclusive. 

The  suite  of  rooms  on  the  ground-floor  were 
lighted  up ;  and  a  military  band  was  playing  in  the 
hall.  In  the  smaller  drawing-room,  the  centre  of 
a  circle  of  company,  were  the  President  and  his 
daughter-in-law,  who  acted  as  the  lady  of  the  man- 
sion: and  a  very  interesting,  graceful,  and  accom- 
plished lady  too.  One  gentleman  who  stood  among 
this  group  appeared  to  take  upon  himself  the  func- 
tions of  a  master  of  the  ceremonies.  I  saw  no  other 
officers  or  attendants,  and  none  were  needed. 

The  great  drawing-room  which  I  have  already 


FOR   GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  183 

mentioned,  and  the  other  chambers  on  the  ground- 
floor,  were  crowded  to  excess.  The  company  was 
not,  in  our  sense  of  the  term,  select,  for  it  compre- 
hended persons  of  very  many  grades  and  classes; 
nor  was  there  any  great  display  of  costly  attire  : 
indeed,  some  of  the  costumes  may  have  been,  for 
aught  I  know,  grotesque  enough.  But  the  decorum 
and  propriety  of  behavior  which  prevailed  were  un- 
broken by  any  rude  or  disagreeable  incident;  and 
every  man,  even  among  the  miscellaneous  crowd  in 
the  hall  who  were  admitted  without  any  orders  or 
tickets  to  look  on,  appeared  to  feel  that  he  was 
a  part  of  the  Institution,  and  was  responsible  for 
its  preserving  a  becoming  character,  and  appearing 
to  the  best  advantage. 

That  these  visitors,  too,  whatever  their  station, 
were  not  without  some  refinement  of  taste  and  ap- 
preciation of  intellectual  gifts,  and  gratitude  to 
those  men  who,  by  the  peaceful  exercise  of  great 
abilities,  shed  new  charms  and  associations  upon 
the  homes  of  their  countrymen,  and  elevate  their 
character  in  other  lands,  was  most  earnestly  testi- 
fied by  their  reception  of  Washington  Irving,  my 
dear  friend,  who  had  recently  been  appointed  Min- 
ister at  the  Court  of  Spain,  and  who  was  among 
them  that  night,  in  his  new  character,  for  the  first 
and  last  time  before  going  abroad.  I  sincerely 
believe  that,  in  all  the  madness  of  American  poli- 
tics, few  public  men  would  have  been  so  earnestly, 
devotedly,  and  affectionately  caressed  as  this  most 
charming  writer:  and  I  have  seldom  respected  a 
public  assembly  more  than  I  did  this  eager  throng, 
when  I  saw  them  turning  with  one  mind  from  noisy 
orators  and  officers  of  state,  and  flocking  with  a  gen- 


184  AMEKICAN  NOTES 

erous  and  honest  impulse  round  the  man  of  quiet 
pursuits  :  proud  in  his  promotion,  as  reflecting  back 
upon  their  country :  and  grateful  to  him  with  their 
whole  hearts  for  the  store  of  graceful  fancies  he 
had  poured  out  among  them.  Long  may  he  dis- 
pense such  treasures  with  unsparing  hand ;  and  long 
may  they  remember  him  as  worthily ! 

The  term  we  had  assigned  for  the  duration  of  our 
stay  in  Washington  was  now  at  an  end,  and  we 
were  to  begin  to  travel ;  for  the  railroad  distances 
we  had  traversed  yet,  in  journeying  among  these 
older  towns,  are  on  that  great  continent  looked  upon 
as  nothing. 

I  had  at  first  intended  going  South — to  Charles- 
ton. But  when  I  came  to  consider  the  length  of 
time  which  this  journey  would  occupy,  and  the 
premature  heat  of  the  season,  which  even  at  Wash- 
ington had  been  often  very  trying;  and  weighed, 
moreover,  in  my  mind,  the  pain  of  living  in  the 
constant  contemplation  of  slavery,  against  the  more 
than  doubtful  chances  of  my  ever  seeing  it,  in  the 
time  I  had  to  spare,  stripped  of  the  disguises  in 
which  it  would  certainly  be  dressed,  and  so  adding 
any  item  to  the  host  of  facts  already  heaped  to- 
gether on  the  subject ;  I  began  to  listen  to  old  whis- 
perings which  had  often  been  present  to  me  at  home 
in  England,  when  I  little  thought  of  ever  being 
here ;  and  to  dream  again  of  cities  growing  up,  like 
palaces  in  fairy  tales,  among  the  wilds  and  forests 
of  the  west. 

The  advice  I  received  in  most  quarters,  when 
I  began  to  yield  to  my  desire  of  travelling  towards 
that  point  of  the  compass,  was,  according  to  cus- 


FOR   GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  185 

torn,  sufficiently  cheerless:  my  companion  being 
threatened  with  more  perils,  dangers,  and  discom- 
forts than  I  can  remember,  or  would  catalogue  if 
I  could;  but  of  which  it  will  be  sufficient  to  remark 
that  blowings-up  in  steamboats  and  breakings-down 
in  coaches  were  among  the  least.  But,  having  a 
western  route  sketched  out  for  me  by  the  best  and 
kindest  authority  to  which  I  could  have  resorted, 
and  putting  no  great  faith  in  these  discouragements, 
I  soon  determined  on  my  plan  of  action. 

This  was  to  travel  south  only  to  Richmond  in 
Virginia;  and  then  to  turn,  and  shape  our  course 
for  the  Far  West ;  whither  I  beseech  the  reader's 
company  in  a  new  chapter. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

A    NIGHT   STEAMER   ON    THE    POTOMAC    EIVER. VIR- 
GINIA ROAD,  AND    A  BLACK   DRIVER. RICHMOND. 

BALTIMORE. THE    HARRISBURG    MAIL,    AND    A 

GLIMPSE    OF    THE    CITY. A   CANAL    BOAT. 

WE  were  to  proceed  in  the  first  instance  by  steam- 
boat :  and  as  it  is  usual  to  sleep  on  board,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  starting  hour  being  four  o'clock  in 
the  morning,  we  went  down  to  where  she  lay,  at 
that  very  uncomfortable  time  for  such  expeditions 
when  slippers  are  most  valuable,  and  a  familiar  bed, 
in  the  perspective  of  an  hour  or  two,  looks  uncom- 
monly pleasant. 

It  is  ten  o'clock  at  night :  say  half-past  ten : 
moonlight,  warm,  and  dull  enough.  The  steamer 
(not  unlike  a  child's  Noah's  ark  in  form,  with  the 
machinery  on  the  top  of  the  roof)  is  riding  lazily 
up  and  down,  and  bumping  clumsily  against  the 
wooden  pier,  as  the  ripple  of  the  river  trifles  with 
its  unwieldy  carcass.  The  wharf  is  some  distance 
from  the  city.  There  is  nobody  down  here;  and 
one  or  two  dull  lamps  upon  the  steamer's  decks  are 
the  only  signs  of  life  remaining,  when  our  coach 
has  driven  away.  As  soon  as  our  footsteps  are 
heard  upon  the  planks,  a  fat  negress,  particularly 
186 


AMERICAN  NOTES.  187 

favored  by  nature  in  respect  of  bustle,  emerges 
from  some  dark  stairs,  and  marshals  my  wife  towards 
the  ladies'  cabin,  to  which  retreat  she  goes,  followed 
by  a  mighty  bale  of  cloaks  and  great-coats.  I 
valiantly  resolve  not  to  go  to  bed  at  all,  but  to  walk 
up  and  down  the  pier  till  morning. 

I  begin  my  promenade  —  thinking  of  all  kinds  of 
distant  things  and  persons,  and  of  nothing  near  — 
and  pace  up  and  down  for  half  an  hour.  Then  I  go 
on  board  again :  and,  getting  into  the  light  of  one 
of  the  lamps,  look  at  my  watch,  and  think  it  must 
have  stopped ;  and  wonder  what  has  become  of  the 
faithful  secretary  whom  I  brought  along  with  me 
from  Boston.  He  is  supping  with  our  late  landlord 
(a  Field  Marshal  at  least,  no  doubt)  in  honor  of  our 
departure,  and  may  be  two  hours  longer.  I  walk 
again,  but  it  gets  duller  and  duller:  the  moon  goes 
down :  next  June  seems  farther  off  in  the  dark,  and 
the  echoes  of  my  footsteps  make  me  nervous.  It 
has  turned  cold,  too ;  and  walking  up  and  down 
without  any  companion  in  such  lonely  circumstances 
is  but  poor  amusement.  So  I  break  my  stanch 
resolution,  and  think  it  may  be,  perhaps,  as  well  to 
go  to  bed. 

I  go  on  board  again ;  open  the  door  of  the  gentle- 
men's cabin ;  and  walk  in.  Somehow  or  other  — 
from  its  being  so  quiet,  I  suppose  —  I  have  taken  it 
into  my  head  that  there  is  nobody  there.  To  my 
horror  and  amazement  it  is  full  of  sleepers  in  every 
stage,  shape,  attitude,  and  variety  of  slumber:  in 
the  berths,  on  the  chairs,  on  the  floors,  on  the  tables, 
and  particularly  round  the  stove,  my  detested  enemy. 
I  take  another  step  forward,  and  slip  upon  the  shin- 
ing face  of  a  black  steward,  who  lies  rolled  in  a 


188  AMERICAN   NOTES 

blanket  on  the  floor.  He  jumps  up,  grins,  half  in 
pain  and  half  in  hospitality ;  whispers  iny  own 
name  in  my  ear ;  and,  groping  among  the  sleepers, 
leads  me  to  my  berth.  Standing  beside  it,  I  count 
these  slumbering  passengers,  and  get  past  forty. 
There  is  no  use  in  going  further,  so  I  begin  to 
undress.  As  the  chairs  are  all  occupied,  and  there 
is  nothing  else  to  put  my  clothes  on,  I  deposit  them 
upon  the  ground :  not  without  soiling  my  hands,  for 
it  is  in  the  same  condition  as  the  carpets  in  the 
Capitol,  and  from  the  same  cause.  Having  but 
partially  undressed,  I  clamber  on  my  shelf,  and 
hold  the  curtain  open  for  a  few  minutes  while  I 
look  round  on  all  my  fellow-travellers  again.  That 
done,  I  let  it  fall  on  them,  and  on  the  world :  turn 
round :  and  go  to  sleep. 

I  wake,  of  course,  when  we  get  under  way,  for 
there  is  a  good  deal  of  noise.  The  day  is  then  just 
breaking.  Everybody  wakes  at  the  same  time. 
Some  are  self-possessed  directly,  and  some  are 
much  perplexed  to  make  out  where  they  are  until 
they  have  rubbed  their  eyes,  and,  leaning  on  one 
elbow,  looked  about  them.  Some  yawn,  some  groan, 
nearly  all  spit,  and  a  few  get  up.  I  am  among  the 
risers :  for  it  is  easy  to  feel,  without  going  into 
fresh  air,  that  the  atmosphere  of  the  cabin  is  vile 
in  the  last  degree.  I  huddle  on  my  clothes,  go 
down  into  the  fore-cabin,  get  shaved  by  the  barber, 
and  wash  myself.  The  washing  and  dressing  appa- 
ratus, for  the  passengers  generally,  consists  of  two 
jack-towels,  three  small  wooden  basins,  a  keg  of 
water  and  a  ladle  to  serve  it  out  with,  six  square 
inches  of  looking-glass,  two  ditto  ditto  of  yellow 
soap,  a  comb  and  brush  for  the  head,  and  nothing 


FOR   GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  189 

for  the  teeth.  Everybody  uses  the  comb  and  brush, 
except  myself.  Everybody  stares  to  see  me  using 
my  own ;  and  two  or  three  gentlemen  are  strongly 
disposed  to  banter  me  on  my  prejudices,  but  don't. 
When  I  have  made  my  toilet,  I  go  upon  the  hurri- 
cane deck,  and  set  in  for  two  hours  of  hard  walking 
up  and  down.  The  sun  is  rising  brilliantly ;  we 
are  passing  Mount  Vernon,  where  Washington  lies 
buried ;  the  river  is  wide  and  rapid ;  and  its  banks 
are  beautiful.  All  the  glory  and  splendor  of  the 
day  are  coming  on,  and  growing  brighter  every 
minute. 

At  eight  o'clock  we  breakfast  in  the  cabin  where 
I  passed  the  night,  but  the  windows  and  doors  are 
all  thrown  open,  and  now  it  is  fresh  enough.  There 
is  no  hurry  or  greediness  apparent  in  the  despatch 
of  the  meal.  It  is  longer  than  a  travelling  break- 
fast with  us  ;  more  orderly  ;  and  more  polite. 

Soon  after  nine  o'clock  we  come  to  Potomac  Creek, 
where  we  are  to  land ;  and  then  comes  the  oddest 
part  of  the  journey.  Seven  stage-coaches  are  pre- 
paring to  carry  us  on.  Some  of  them  are  ready, 
some  of  them  are  not  ready.  Some  of  the  drivers 
are  blacks,  some  whites.  There  are  four  horses  to 
each  coach,  and  all  the  horses,  harnessed  or  unhar- 
nessed, are  there.  The  passengers  are  getting  out 
of  the  steamboat,  and  into  the  coaches  ;  the  luggage 
is  being  transferred  in  noisy  wheelbarrows;  the 
horses  are  frightened,  and  impatient  to  start;  the 
black  drivers  are  chattering  to  them  like  so  many 
monkeys;  and  the  white  ones  whooping  like  so 
many  drovers  :  for  the  main  thing  to  be  done,  in  all 
kinds  of  hostlering  here,  is  to  make  as  much  noise 
as  possible.  The  coaches  are  something  like  the 


190  AMERICAN   NOTES 

French  coaches,  but  not  nearly  so  good.  In  lieu  of 
springs,  they  are  hung  on  bands  of  the  strongest 
leather.  There  is  very  little  choice  or  difference 
between  them ;  and  they  may  be  likened  to  the  car 
portion  of  the  swings  at  an  English  fair,  roofed, 
put  upon  axletrees  and  wheels,  and  curtained  with 
painted  canvas.  They  are  covered  with  mud  from 
the  roof  to  the  wheel-tire,  and  have  never  been 
cleaned  since  they  were  first  built. 

The  tickets  we  have  received  on  board  the  steam- 
boat are  marked  No.  1,  so  we  belong  to  coach  No. 
1.  I  throw  my  coat  on  the  box,  and  hoist  my  wife 
and  her  maid  into  the  inside.  It  has  only  one  step, 
and  that,  being  about  a  yard  from  the  ground,  is 
usually  approached  by  a  chair:  when  there  is  no 
chair,  ladies  trust  in  Providence.  The  coach  holds 
nine  inside,  having  a  seat  across  from  door  to  door, 
where  we  in  England  put  our  legs  ;  so  that  there  is 
only  one  feat  more  difficult  in  the  performance  than 
getting  in,  and  that  is  getting  out  again.  There  is 
only  one  outside  passenger,  and  he  sits  upon  the 
box.  As  I  am  that  one,  I  climb  up ;  and  while  they 
are  strapping  the  luggage  on  the  roof,  and  heaping 
it  into  a  kind  of  tray  behind,  have  a  good  opportu- 
nity of  looking  at  the  driver. 

He  is  a  negro  —  very  black  indeed.  He  is  dressed 
in  a  coarse  pepper-and-salt  suit  excessively  patched 
and  darned  (particularly  at  the  knees),  gray  stock- 
ings, enormous  unblacked  high-low  shoes,  and  very 
short  trousers.  He  has  two  odd  gloves :  one  of 
party-colored  worsted,  and  one  of  leather.  He  has 
a  very  short  whip,  broken  in  the  middle,  and  ban- 
daged up  with  string.  And  yet  he  wears  a  low- 
crowned,  broad-brimmed,  black  hat :  faintly  shadow- 


FOR   GENERAL   CIRCULATION.  191 

ing  forth  a  kind  of  insane  imitation  of  an  Eng- 
lish coachman  !  But  somebody  in  authority  cries 
"  Go  ahead ! "  as  I  am  making  these  observations. 
The  mail  takes  the  lead  in  a  four-horse  wagon, 
and  all  the  coaches  follow  in  procession :  headed  by 
No.  1. 

By  the  way,  whenever  an  Englishman  would  cry 
"  All  right ! "  an  American  cries  "  Go  ahead ! "  which 
is  somewhat  expressive  of  the  national  character  of 
the  two  countries. 

The  first  half-mile  of  the  road  is  over  bridges 
made  of  loose  planks  laid  across  two  parallel  poles, 
which  tilt  up  as  the  wheels  roll  over  them ;  and  IN 
the  river.  The  river  has  a  clayey  bottom,  and  is 
full  of  holes,  so  that  half  a  horse  is  constantly  dis- 
appearing unexpectedly,  and  can't  be  found  again 
for  some  time. 

But  we  get  past  even  this,  and  come  to  the  road 
itself,  which  is  a  series  of  alternate  swamps  and 
gravel-pits.  A  tremendous  place  is  close  before  us, 
the  black  driver  rolls  his  eyes,  screws  his  mouth  up 
very  round,  and  looks  straight  between  the  two 
leaders,  as  if  he  were  saying  to  himself,  "  We  have 
done  this  often  before,  but  now  I  think  we  shall 
have  a  crash."  He  takes  a  rein  in  each  hand ;  jerks 
and  pulls  at  both ;  and  dances  on  the  splash-board 
with  both  feet  (keeping  his  seat,  of  course)  like  the 
late  lamented  Ducrow  on  two  of  his  fiery  coursers. 
We  come  to  the  spot,  sink  down  in  the  mire  nearly 
to  the  coach  windows,  tilt  on  one  side  at  an  angle 
of  forty-five  degrees,  and  stick  there.  The  insides 
scream  dismally ;  the  coach  stops  ;  the  horses  floun- 
der; all  the  other  six  coaches  stop;  and  their  four 
and  twenty  horses  flounder  likewise:  but  merely 


192  AMERICAN  NOTES 

for  company,  and  in  sympathy  with  ours.  Then 
the  following  circumstances  occur. 

BLACK  DRIVER  (to  the  horses).     "  Hi ! " 

Nothing  happens.     Insides  scream  again. 

BLACK  DRIVER  (to  the  horses).     "  Ho ! " 

Horses  plunge,  and  splash  the  black  driver. 

GENTLEMAN  INSIDE  (looking  out).  "Why,  what 
on  airth  —  " 

Gentleman  receives  a  variety  of  splashes,  and 
draws  his  head  in  again,  without  finishing  his  ques- 
tion or  waiting  for  an  answer. 

BLACK  DRIVER  (still  to  the  horses).  "Jiddy! 
Jiddy ! " 

Horses  pull  violently,  drag  the  coach  out  of  the 
hole,  and  draw  it  up  a  bank ;  so  steep  that  the  black 
driver's  legs  fly  up  into  the  air,  and  he  goes  back 
among  the  luggage  on  the  roof.  But  he  immedi- 
ately recovers  himself,  and  cries  (still  to  the  horses), 

"Pill!" 

No  effect.  On  the  contrary,  the  coach  begins  to 
roll  back  upon  No.  2,  which  rolls  back  upon  No.  3, 
which  rolls  back  upon  No.  4,  and  so  on,  until  No.  7 
is  heard  to  curse  and  swear  nearly  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  behind. 

BLACK  DRIVER  (louder  than  before).     "  Pill ! " 

Horses  make  another  struggle  to  get  up  the  bank, 
and  again  the  coach  rolls  backward. 

BLACK  DRIVER  (louder  than  before).  "Pe-e-e-ill ! " 

Horses  make  a  desperate  struggle. 

BLACK  DRIVER  (recovering  spirits).  "Hi!  Jiddy, 
Jiddy,  Pill ! " 

Horses  make  another  effort. 

BLACK  DRIVER  (with  great  vigor).  "Ally  Loo! 
Hi.  Jiddy,  Jiddy.  Pill.  Ally  Loo!" 


FOE   GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  193 

Horses  almost  do  it. 

BLACK  DRIVER  (with  his  eyes  starting  out  of  his 
head).  "  Lee,  den.  Lee,  dere.  Hi.  Jiddy,  Jiddy. 
Pill.  Ally  Loo.  Lee-e-e-e-e  ! " 

They  run  up  the  bank,  and  go  down  again  on  the 
other  side  at  a  fearful  pace.  It  is  impossible  to 
stop  them,  and  at  the  bottom  there  is  a  deep  hollow, 
full  of  water.  The  coach  rolls  frightfully.  The 
insides  scream.  The  mud  and  water  fly  about  us. 
The  black  driver  dances  like  a  madman.  Suddenly 
we  are  all  right  by  some  extraordinary  means,  and 
stop  to  breathe. 

A  black  friend  of  the  black  driver  is  sitting  on  a 
fence.  The  black  driver  recognizes  him  by  twirling 
his  head  round  and  round  like  a  harlequin,  rolling 
his  eyes,  shrugging  his  shoulders,  and  grinning  from 
ear  to  ear.  He  stops  short,  turns  to  me,  and  says,  — 

"  We  shall  get  you  through,  sa,  like  a  fiddle,  and 
hope  a  please  you  when  we  get  you  through,  sa. 
Old  ;ooman  at  home,  sa : "  chuckling  very  much. 
"Outside  gentleman,  sa,  he  often  remember  old 
'ooman  at  home,  sa^"  grinning  again. 

"  Ay,  ay,  we'll  take  care  of  the  old  woman.  Don't 
be  afraid." 

The  black  driver  grins  again,  but  there  is  another 
hole,  and,  beyond  that,  another  bank,  close  before 
us.  So  he  stops  short :  cries  (to  the  horses  again) 
"Easy.  Easy  den.  Ease.  Steady.  Hi.  Jiddy. 
Pill.  Ally.  Loo,"  but  never  "  Lee  ! "  until  we  are 
reduced  to  the  very  last  extremity,  and  are  in  the 
midst  of  difficulties,  extrication  from  which  appears 
to  be  all  but  impossible. 

And  so  we  do  the  ten  miles  or  thereabouts  in  two 
hours  and  a  half ;  breaking  no  bones,  though  bruis- 
13 


194  AMERICAN  NOTES 

ing  a  great  many ;  and,  in  short,  getting  through  the 
distance  "  like  a  fiddle." 

This  singular  kind  of  coaching  terminates  at 
Fredericksburg,  whence  there  is  a  railway  to  Rich- 
mond. The  tract  of  country  through  which  it  takes 
its  course  was  once  productive :  but  the  soil  has 
been  exhausted  by  the  system  of  employing  a  great 
amount  of  slave  labor  in  forcing  crops,  without 
strengthening  the  land :  and  it  is  now  little  better 
than  a  sandy  desert  overgrown  with  trees.  Dreary 
and  uninteresting  as  its  aspect  is,  I  was  glad  to  the 
heart  to  find  anything  on  which  one  of  the  curses 
of  this  horrible  institution  has  fallen;  and  had 
greater  pleasure  in  contemplating  the  withered 
ground  than  the  richest  and  most  thriving  cultiva- 
tion in  the  same  place  could  possibly  have  afforded 
me. 

In  this  district,  as  in  all  others  where  slavery  sits 
brooding  (I  have  frequently  heard  this  admitted, 
even  by  those  who  are  its  warmest  advocates),  there 
is  an  air  of  ruin  and  decay  abroad,  which  is  insep- 
arable from  the  system.  The  barns  and  outhouses 
are  mouldering  away;  the  sheds  are  patched  and 
half  roofless ;  the  log-cabins  (built  in  Virginia  with 
external  chimneys  made  of  clay  or  wood)  are  squalid 
in  the  last  degree.  There  is  no  look  of  decent  com- 
fort anywhere.  The  miserable  stations  by  the  rail- 
way side ;  the  great  wild  woodyards,  whence  the 
engine  is  supplied  with  fuel;  the  negro  children 
rolling  on  the  ground  before  the  cabin  doors,  with 
dogs  and  pigs ;  the  biped  beasts  of  burden  slinking 
past :  gloom  and  dejection  are  upon  them  all. 

In  the  negro  car  belonging  to  the  train  in  which 
we  made  this  journey  were  a  mother  and  her  chil- 


FOR   GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  195 

dren  who  had  just  been  purchased ;  the  husband  and 
father  being  left  behind  with  their  old  owner.  The 
children  cried  the  whole  way,  and  the  mother  was 
misery's  picture.  The  champion  of  Life,  Liberty, 
and  the  Pursuit  of  Happiness,  who  had  bought 
them,  rode  in  the  same  train ;  and,  every  time  we 
stopped,  got  down  to  see  that  they  were  safe.  The 
black  in  Sinbad's  Travels,  with  one  eye  in  the  middle 
of  his  forehead  which  shone  like  a  burning  coal,  was 
nature's  aristocrat  compared  with  this  white  gentle- 
man. 

It  was  between  six  and  seven  o'clock  in  the  even- 
ing when  we  drove  to  the  hotel :  in  front  of  which, 
and  on  the  top  of  the  broad  flight  of  steps  leading 
to  the  door,  two  or  three  citizens  were  balancing 
themselves  on  rocking-chairs,  and  smoking  cigars. 
We  found  it  a  very  large  and  elegant  establishment, 
and  were  as  well  entertained  as  travellers  need 
desire  to  be.  The  climate  being  a  thirsty  one,  there 
was  never,  at  any  hour  of  the  day,  a  scarcity  of 
loungers  in  the  spacious  bar,  or  a  cessation  of  the 
mixing  of  cool  liquors  :  but  they  were  a  merrier 
people  here,  and  had  musical  instruments  playing 
to  them  o'  nights,  which  it  was  a  treat  to  hear 
again. 

The  next  day,  and  the  next,  we  rode  and  walked 
about  the  town,  which  is  delightfully  situated  on 
eight  hills  overhanging  James  River;  a  sparkling 
stream,  studded  here  and  there  with  bright  islands, 
or  brawling  over  broken  rocks.  Although  it  was 
yet  but  the  middle  of  March,  the  weather  in  this 
southern  temperature  was  extremely  warm ;  the 
peach-trees  and  magnolias  were  in  full  bloom ;  and 
the  trees  were  green.  In  a  low  ground  among  the 


196  AMERICAN   NOTES 

hills  is  a  valley  known  as  "Bloody  Run,"  from  a 
terrible  conflict  with  the  Indians  which  once  oc- 
curred there.  It  is  a  good  place  for  such  a  struggle, 
and,  like  every  other  spot  I  saw  associated  with  any 
legend  of  that  wild  people  now  so  rapidly  fading 
from  the  earth,  interested  me  very  much. 

The  city  is  the  seat  of  the  local  Parliament  of 
Virginia ;  and,  in  its  shady  legislative  halls,  some 
orators  were  drowsily  holding  forth  to  the  hot  noon- 
day. By  dint  of  constant  repetition,  however,  these 
constitutional  sights  had  very  little  more  interest 
for  me  than  so  many  parochial  vestries ;  and  I  was 
glad  to  exchange  this  one  for  a  lounge  in  a  well- 
arranged  public  library  of  some  ten  thousand 
volumes,  and  a  visit  to  a  tobacco  manufactory, 
where  the  workmen  were  all  slaves. 

I  saw  in  this  place  the  whole  process  of  picking, 
rolling,  pressing,  drying,  packing  in  casks,  and  brand- 
ing. All  the  tobacco  thus  dealt  with  was  in  course 
of  manufacture  for  chewing ;  and  one  would  have 
supposed  there  was  enough  in  that  one  storehouse 
to  have  filled  even  the  comprehensive  jaws  of 
America.  In  this  form  the  weed  looks  like  the  oil- 
cake on  which  we  fatten  cattle ;  and,  even  without 
reference  to  its  consequences,  is  sufficiently  unin- 
viting. 

Many  of  the  workmen  appeared  to  be  strong  men, 
and  it  is  hardly  necessary  to  add  that  they  were  all 
laboring  quietly  then.  After  two  o'clock  in  the  day 
they  are  allowed  to  sing,  a  certain  number  at  a  time. 
The  hour  striking  while  I  was  there,  some  twenty 
sang  a  hymn  in  parts,  and  sang  it  by  no  means  ill ; 
pursuing  their  work  meanwhile.  A  bell  rang  as  I 
was  about  to  leave,  and  they  all  poured  forth  into 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  197 

a  building  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  street  to 
dinner.  I  said  several  times  that  I  should  like 
to  see  them  at  their  meal ;  but,  as  the  gentleman  to 
whom  I  mentioned  this  desire  appeared  to  be  sud- 
denly taken  rather  deaf,  I  did  not  pursue  the  re- 
quest. Of  their  appearance  I  shall  have  something 
to  say  presently. 

On  the  following  day  I  visited  a  plantation  or 
farm,  of  about  twelve  hundred  acres,  on  the  opposite 
bank  of  the  river.  Here  again,  although  I  went 
down  with  the  owner  of  the  estate,  to  "  the  quarter," 
as  that  part  of  it  in  which  the  slaves  live  is  called, 
I  was  not  invited  to  enter  into  any  of  their  huts. 
All  I  saw  of  them  was,  that  they  were  very  crazy, 
wretched  cabins,  near  to  which  groups  of  half- 
naked  children  basked  in  the  sun,  or  wallowed  on 
the  dusty  ground.  But  I  believe  that  this  gentle- 
man is  a  considerate  and  excellent  master,  who  in- 
herited his  fifty  slaves,  and  is  neither  a  buyer  nor  a 
seller  of  human  stock  ;  and  I  am  sure,  from  my  own 
observation  and  conviction,  that  he  is  a  kind-hearted, 
worthy  man. 

The  planter's  house  was  an  airy,  rustic  dwelling, 
that  brought  Defoe's  description  of  such  places 
strongly  to  my  recollection.  The  day  was  very 
warm,  but  the  blinds  being  all  closed,  and  the  win- 
dows and  doors  set  wide  open,  a  shady  coolness 
rustled  through  the  rooms,  which  was  exquisitely 
refreshing  after  the  glare  and  heat  without.  Before 
the  windows  was  an  open  piazza,  where,  in  what 
they  call  the  hot  weather  —  whatever  that  may  be 
—  they  sling  hammocks,  and  drink  and  doze  luxuri- 
ously. I  do  not  know  how  their  cool  refections  may 
taste  within  the  hammocks,  but,  having  experience, 


198  AMERICAN   NOTES 

I  can  report  that,  out  of  them,  the  mounds  of  ices 
and  the  bowls  of  mint-julep  and  sherry-cobbler  they 
make  in  these  latitudes,  are  refreshments  never  to 
be  thought  of  afterwards,  in  summer,  by  those  who 
would  preserve  contented  minds. 

There  are  two  bridges  across  the  river :  one  be- 
longs to  the  railroad,  and  the  other,  which  is  a  very 
crazy  affair,  is  the  private  property  of  some  old 
lady  in  the  neighborhood,  who  levies  tolls  upon  the 
townspeople.  Crossing  this  bridge  on  my  way 
back,  I  saw  a  notice  painted  on  the  gate,  cautioning 
all  persons  to  drive  slowly  :  under  a  penalty,  if  the 
offender  were  a  white  man,  of  five  dollars;  if  a 
negro,  fifteen  stripes. 

The  same  decay  and  gloom  that  overhang  the  way 
by  which  it  is  approached,  hover  above  the  town  of 
Richmond.  There  are  pretty  villas  and  cheerful 
houses  in  its  streets,  and  Nature  smiles  upon  the 
country  round ;  but  jostling  its  handsome  residences, 
like  slavery  itself  going  hand  in  hand  with  many 
lofty  virtues,  are  deplorable  tenements,  fences  un- 
repaired, walls  crumbling  into  ruinous  heaps.  Hint- 
ing gloomily  at  things  below  the  surface,  these,  and 
many  other  tokens  of  the  same  description,  force 
themselves  upon  the  notice,  and  are  remembered 
with  depressing  influence,  when  livelier  features 
are  forgotten. 

To  those  who  are  happily  unaccustomed  to  them, 
the  countenances  in  the  streets  and  laboring  places, 
too,  are  shocking.  All  men  who  know  that  there 
are  laws  against  instructing  slaves,  of  which  the 
pains  and  penalties  greatly  exceed  in  their  amount 
the  fines  imposed  on  those  who  maim  and  torture 
them,  must  be  prepared  to  find  their  faces  very  low 


FOB   GENERAL   CIRCULATION.  199 

in  the  scale  of  intellectual  expression.  But  the 
darkness  —  not  of  skin,  but  mind  —  which  meets 
the  stranger's  eye  at  every  turn ;  the  brutalizing  and 
blotting  out  of  all  fairer  characters  traced  by 
Nature's  hand ;  immeasurably  outdo  his  worst  belief. 
That  travelled  creation  of  the  great  satirist's  brain, 
who,  fresh  from  living  among  horses,  peered  from  a 
high  casement  down  upon  his  own  kind  with  trem- 
bling horror,  was  scarcely  more  repelled  and  daunted 
by  the  sight  than  those  who  look  upon  some  of  these 
faces  for  the  first  time  must  surely  be. 

I  left  the  last  of  them  behind  me  in  the  person 
of  a  wretched  drudge,  who,  after  running  to  and  fro 
all  day  till  midnight,  and  moping  in  his  stealthy 
winks  of  sleep  upon  the  stairs  between-whiles,  was 
washing  the  dark  passages  at  four  o'clock  in  the 
morning;  and  went  upon  my  way  with  a  grateful 
heart  that  I  was  not  doomed  to  live  where  slavery 
was,  and  had  never  had  my  senses  blunted  to  its 
wrongs  and  horrors  in  a  slave-rocked  cradle. 

It  had  been  my  intention  to  proceed  by  James 
River  and  Chesapeake  Bay  to  Baltimore ;  but  one 
of  the  steamboats  being  absent  from  her  station 
through  some  accident,  and  the  means  of  convey- 
ance being  consequently  rendered  uncertain,  we 
returned  to  Washington  by  the  way  we  had  come 
(there  were  two  constables  on  board  the  steamboat, 
in  pursuit  of  runaway  slaves),  and,  halting  there 
again  for  one  night,  went  on  to  Baltimore  next 
afternoon. 

The  most  comfortable  of  all  the  hotels  of  which 
I  had  any  experience  in  the  United  States,  and  they 
were  not  a  few,  is  Barnum's,  in  that  city :  where  the 
English  traveller  will  find  curtains  to  his  bed,  for 


200  AMERICAN  NOTES 

the  first  and  probably  the  last  time  in  America  (this 
is  a  disinterested  remark,  for  I  never  use  them)  ; 
and  where  he  will  be  likely  to  have  enough  water 
for  washing  himself,  which  is  not  at  all  a  common 
case. 

This  capital  of  the  State  of  Maryland  is  a  bus- 
tling, busy  town,  with  a  great  deal  of  traffic  of  vari- 
ous kinds,  and  in  particular  of  water  commerce. 
That  portion  of  the  town  which  it  most  favors  is 
none  of  the  cleanest,  it  is  true ;  but  the  upper  part 
is  of  a  very  different  character,  and  has  many  agree- 
able streets  and  public  buildings.  The  Washing- 
ton Monument,  which  is  a  handsome,  pillar  with  a 
statue  on  its  summit ;  the  Medical  College ;  and  the 
Battle  Monument  in  memory  of  an  engagement 
with  the  British  at  North  Point  j  are  the  most  con- 
spicuous among  them. 

There  is  a  very  good  prison  in  this  city,  and  the 
State  Penitentiary  is  also  among  its  institutions. 
In  this  latter  establishment  there  were  two  curious 
cases. 

One  was  that  of  a  young  man  who  had  been  tried 
for  the  murder  of  his  father.  The  evidence  was 
entirely  circumstantial,  and  was  very  conflicting  and 
doubtful ;  nor  was  it  possible  to  assign  any  motive 
which  could  have  tempted  him  to  the  commission  of 
so  tremendous  a  crime.  He  had  been  tried  twice ; 
and,  on  the  second  occasion,  the  jury  felt  so  much 
hesitation  in  convicting  him,  that  they  found  a  ver- 
dict of  manslaughter,  or  murder  in  the  second 
degree ;  which  it  could  not  possibly  be,  as  there  had, 
beyond  all  doubt,  been  no  quarrel  or  provocation, 
and  if  he  were  guilty  at  all,  he  was  unquestionably 
guilty  of  murder  in  its  broadest  and  worst  signifi- 
cation. 


FOR   GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  201 

The  remarkable  feature  in  the  case  was,  that  if 
the  unfortunate  deceased  were  not  really  murdered 
by  this  own  son  of  his,  he  must  have  been  mur- 
dered by  his  own  brother.  The  evidence  lay,  in  a 
most  remarkable  manner,  between  those  two.  On 
all  the  suspicious  points,  the  dead  man's  brother  was 
the  witness  ;  all  the  explanations  for  the  prisoner 
(some  of  them  extremely  plausible)  went,  by  con- 
struction and  inference,  to  inculpate  him  as  plotting 
to  fix  the  guilt  upon  his  nephew.  It  must  have 
been  one  of  them ;  and  the  jury  had  to  decide  be- 
tween two  sets  of  suspicions,  almost  equally  un- 
natural, unaccountable,  and  strange. 

The  other  case  was  that  of  a  man  who  once  went 
to  a  certain  distiller's,  and  stole  a  copper  measure 
containing  a  quantity  of  liquor.  He  was  pursued 
and  taken  with  the  property  in  his  possession,  and 
was  sentenced  to  two  years'  imprisonment.  On 
coming  out  of  the  jail  at  the  expiration  of  that 
term,  he  went  back  to  the  same  distiller's,  and  stole 
the  same  copper  measure,  containing  the  same  quan- 
tity of  liquor.  There  was  not  the  slightest  reason 
to  suppose  that  the  man  wished  to  return  to  prison : 
indeed,  everything,  but  the  commission  of  the 
offence,  made  directly  against  that  assumption. 
There  are  only  two  ways  of  accounting  for  this  ex- 
traordinary proceeding.  One  is  that,  after  under- 
going so  much  for  this  copper  measure,  he  conceived 
he  had  established  a  sort  of  claim  and  right  to  it. 
The  other  that,  by  dint  of  long  thinking  about,  it 
had  become  a  monomania  with  him,  and  had  ac- 
quired a  fascination  which  he  found  it  impossible 
to  resist :  swelling  from  an  Earthly  Copper  Gallon 
into  an  Ethereal  Golden  Vat. 


202  AMERICAN  NOTES 

After  remaining  here  a  couple  of  days,  I  bound 
myself  to  a  rigid  adherence  to  the  plan  I  had  laid 
down  so  recently,  and  resolved  to  set  forward  on 
our  western  journey  without  any. more  delay.  Ac- 
cordingly, having  reduced  the  luggage  within  the 
smallest  possible  compass  (by  sending  back  to  New 
York,  to  be  afterwards  forwarded  to  us  in  Canada, 
so  much  of  it  as  was  not  absolutely  wanted) ;  and 
having  procured  the  necessary  credentials  to  bank- 
ing-houses on  the  way;  and  having,  moreover, 
looked  for  two  evenings  at  the  setting  sun,  with  as 
well-defined  an  idea  of  the  country  before  us  as  if 
we  had  been  going  to  travel  into  the  very  centre  of 
that  planet ;  we  left  Baltimore  by  another  railway 
at  half-past  eight  in  the  morning,  and  reached  the 
town  of  York,  some  sixty  miles  off,  by  the  early  din- 
ner-time of  the  hotel  which  was  the  starting-place 
of  the  four-horse  coach  wherein  we  were  to  proceed 
to  Harrisburg. 

This  conveyance,  the  box  of  which  I  was  fortu- 
nate enough  to  secure,  had  come  down  to  meet  us 
at  the  railroad  station,  and  was  as  muddy  and  cum- 
bersome as  usual.  As  more  passengers  were  wait- 
ing for  us  at  the  inn  door,  the  coachman  observed 
under  his  breath,  in  the  usual  self-communicative 
voice,  looking  the  while  at  his  mouldy  harness  as  if 
it  were  to  that  he  was  addressing  himself,  — 

"  I  expect  we  shall  want  the  big  coach." 

I  could  not  help  wondering  within  myself  what 
the  size  of  this  big  coach  might  be,  and  how  many 
persons  it  might  be  designed  to  hold;  for  the 
vehicle  which  was  too  small  for  our  purpose  was 
something  larger  than  two  English  heavy  night 
coaches,  and  might  have  been  the  twin  brother  of  a 


FOB  GENERAL   CIRCTJLATION.  203 

French  Diligence.  My  speculations  were  speedily 
set  at  rest,  however,  for,  as  soon  as  we  had  dined, 
there  came  rumbling  up  the  street,  shaking  its  sides 
like  a  corpulent  giant,  a  kind  of  barge  on  wheels. 
After  much  blundering  and  backing,  it  stopped  at 
the  door :  rolling  heavily  from  side  to  side,  when 
its  other  motion  had  ceased,  as  if  it  had  taken  cold 
in  its  damp  stable,  and  between  that,  and  the  hav- 
ing been  required  in  its  dropsical  old  age  to  move  at 
any  faster  pace  than  a  walk,  were  distressed  by 
shortness  of  wind. 

"  If  here  ain't  the  Harrisburg  mail  at  last,  and 
dreadful  bright  and  smart  to  look  at  too,"  cried  an 
elderly  gentleman  in  some  excitement,  "darn  my 
mother ! " 

I  don't  know  what  the  sensation  of  being  darned 
may  be,  or  whether  a  man's  mother  has  a  keener 
relish  or  disrelish  of  the  process  than  anybody  else  ; 
but  if  the  endurance  of  this  mysterious  ceremony 
by  the  old  lady  in  question  had  depended  on  the 
accuracy  of  her  son's  vision  in  respect  to  the  abstract 
brightness  and  smartness  of  the  Harrisburg  mail,  she 
would  certainly  have  undergone  its  infliction.  How- 
ever, they  booked  twelve  people  inside ;  and  the 
luggage  (including  such  trifles  as  a  large  rocking- 
chair  and  a  good-sized  dining-table)  being  at  length 
made  fast  upon  the  roof,  we  started  off  in  great 
state. 

At  the  door  of  another  hotel  there  was  another 
passenger  to  be  taken  up. 

"  Any  room,  sir  ?  "  cries  the  new  passenger  to  the 
coachman. 

"  Well,  there's  room  enough,"  replies  the  coach- 
man, without  getting  down,  or  even  looking  at  him. 


204  AMERICAN  NOTES 

"  There  ain't  no  room  at  all,  sir,"  bawls  a  gentle- 
man inside.  Which  another  gentleman  (also  in- 
side) confirms,  by  predicting  that  the  attempt  to 
introduce  any  more  passengers  "  won't  fit  nohow." 

The  new  passenger,  without  any  expression  of 
anxiety,  looks  into  the  coach,  and  then  looks  up  at 
the  coachman.  "  Now,  how  do  you  mean  to  fix  it  ?  " 
says  he  after  a  pause  :  "  for  I  must  go." 

The  coachman  employs  himself  in  twisting  the 
lash  of  his  whip  into  a  knot,  and  takes  no  more 
notice  of  the  question :  clearly  signifying  that  it  is 
anybody's  business  but  his,  and  that  the  passengers 
would  do  well  to  fix  it  among  themselves.  In  this 
state  of  things,  matters  seem  to  be  approximating 
to  a  fix  of  another  kind,  when  another  inside  pass- 
enger in  a  corner,  who  is  nearly  suffocated,  cries 
faintly,  — 

"I'll  get  out." 

This  is  no  matter  of  relief  or  self-congratulation 
to  the  driver,  for  his  immovable  philosophy  is  per- 
fectly undisturbed  by  anything  that  happens  in  the 
coach.  Of  all  things  in  the  world,  the  coach  would 
seem  to  be  the  very  last  upon  his  mind.  The  ex- 
change is  made,  however,  and  then  the  passenger 
who  has  given  up  his  seat  makes  a  third  upon  the 
box,  seating  himself  in  what  he  calls  the  middle : 
that  is,  with  half  his  person  on  my  legs,  and  the 
other  half  on  the  driver's. 

"  Go  ahead,  cap'en,"  cries  the  colonel,  who  directs. 

"  Go-lang !  "  cries  the  cap'en  to  his  company,  the 
horses,  and  away  we  go. 

We  took  up  at  a  rural  bar-room,  after  we  had  gone 
a  few  miles,  an  intoxicated  gentleman  who  climbed 
upon  the  roof  among  the  luggage,  and  subsequently 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  205 

slipping  off  without  hurting  himself,  was  seen  in 
the  distant  perspective  reeling  back  to  the  grog- 
shop where  we  had  found  him.  We  also  parted 
with  more  of  our  freight  at  different  times,  so  that 
when  we  came  to  change  horses,  I  was  again  alone 
outside. 

The  coachmen  always  change  with  the  horses, 
and  are  usually  as  dirty  as  the  coach.  The  first 
was  dressed  like  a  very  shabby  English  baker ;  the 
second  like  a  Russian  peasant :  for  he  wore  a  loose 
purple  camlet  robe  with  a  fur  collar,  tied  round  his 
waist  with  a  party-colored  worsted  sash ;  gray 
trousers ;  light  blue  gloves  ;  and  a  cap  of  bear-skin. 
It  had  by  this  time  come  on  to  rain  very  heavily, 
and  there  was  a  cold  damp  mist  besides,  which 
penetrated  to  the  skin.  I  was  very  glad  to  take 
advantage  of  a  stoppage,  and  get  down  to  stretch 
my  legs,  shake  the  water  off  my  great-coat,  and 
swallow  the  usual  anti-temperance  recipe  for  keep- 
ing out  the  cold. 

When  I  mounted  to  my  seat  again,  I  observed  a 
new  parcel  lying  on  the  coach  roof,  which  I  took  to 
be  a  rather  large  fiddle  in  a  brown  bag.  In  the 
course  of  a  few  miles,  however,  I  discovered  that  it 
had  a  glazed  cap  at  one  end  and  a  pair  of  muddy 
shoes  at  the  other  ;  and  further  observation  demon- 
strated it  to  be  a  small  boy  in  a  snuff-colored  coat, 
with  his  arms  quite  pinioned  to  his  sides,  by  deep 
forcing  into  his  pockets.  He  was,  I  presume,  a 
relative  or  friend  of  the  coachman's,  as  he  lay  atop 
of  the  luggage,  with  his  face  towards  the  rain; 
and,  except  when  a  change  of  position  brought  his 
shoes  in  contact  with  my  hat,  he  appeared  to  be 
asleep.  At  last,  on  some  occasion  of  our  stopping, 


206  AMERICAN  NOTES 

this  thing  slowly  upreared  itself  to  the  height  of 
three  feet  six,  and,  fixing  its  eyes  on  me,  observed 
in  piping  accents,  with  a  complaisant  yawn,  half 
quenched  in  an  obliging  air  of  friendly  patronage, 
"  Well  now,  stranger,  I  guess  you  find  this  a'most 
like  an  English  arternoon,  hey  ?  " 

The  scenery,  which  had  been  tame  enough  at  first, 
was,  for  the  last  ten  or  twelve  miles,  beautiful. 
Our  road  wound  through  the  pleasant  valley  of  the 
Susquehanna ;.  the  river,  dotted  with  innumerable 
green  islands,  lay  upon  our  right ;  and  on  the  left,  a 
steep  ascent,  craggy  with  broken  rock,  and  dark 
with  pine-trees.  The  mist,  wreathing  itself  into  a 
hundred  fantastic  shapes,  moved  solemnly  upon  the 
water ;  and  the  gloom  of  evening  gave  to  all  an  air 
of  mystery  and  silence  which  greatly  enhanced  its 
natural  interest. 

We  crossed  this  river  by  a  wooden  bridge,  roofed 
and  covered  in  on  all  sides,  and  nearly  a  mile  in 
length.  It  was  profoundly  dark;  perplexed,  with 
great  beams  crossing  and  recrossing  it  at  every 
possible  angle ;  and  through  the  broad  chinks  and 
crevices  of  the  floor  the  rapid  river  gleamed,  far 
down  below,  like  a  legion  of  eyes.  We  had  no 
lamps ;  and  as  the  horses  stumbled  and  floundered 
through  this  place,  towards  the  distant  speck  of 
dying  light,  it  seemed  interminable.  I  really  could 
not  at  first  persuade  myself,  as  we  rumbled  heavily 
on,  filling  the  bridge  with  hollow  noises,  and  I  held 
down  my  head  to  save  it  from  the  rafters  above, 
but  that  I  was  in  a  painful  dream  ;  for  I  have  often 
dreamed  of  toiling  through  such  places,  and  as 
often  argued,  even  at  the  time,  "this  cannot  be 
reality." 


FOB  GENERAL   CIRCULATION.  207 

At  length,  however,  we  emerged  upon  the  streets 
of  Harrisburg,  whose  feeble  lights,  reflected  dis- 
mally from  the  wet  ground,  did  not  shine  out  upon 
a  very  cheerful  city.  We  were  soon  established  in 
a  snug  hotel,  which,  though  smaller  and  far  less 
splendid  than  many  we  put  up  at,  is  raised  above 
them  all  in  my  remembrance,  by  having  for  its 
landlord  the  most  obliging,  considerate,  and  gentle- 
manly person  I  ever  had  to  deal  with. 

As  we  were  not  to  proceed  upon  our  journey  until 
the  afternoon,  I  walked  out,  after  breakfast  the 
next  morning,  to  look  about  me;  and  was  duly 
shown  a  model  prison  on  the  solitary  system,  just 
erected,  and  as  yet  without  an  inmate ;  the  trunk  of 
an  old  tree  to  which  Harris,  the  first  settler  here 
(afterwards  buried  under  it),  was  tied  by  hostile 
Indians,  with  his  funeral  pile  about  him,  when  he 
was  saved  by  the  timely  appearance  of  a  friendly 
party  on  the  opposite  shore  of  the  river ;  the  local 
legislature  (for  there  was  another  of  those  bodies 
here,  again,  in  full  debate)  ;  and  the  other  curiosities 
of  the  town. 

I  was  very  much  interested  in  looking  over  a 
number  of  treaties  made  from  time  to  time  with  the 
poor  Indians,  signed  by  the  different  chiefs  at  the 
period  of  their  ratification,  and  preserved  in  the  office 
of  the  Secretary  to  the  Commonwealth,  These  sig- 
natures, traced  of  course  by  their  own  hands,  are 
rough  drawings  of  the  creatures  or  weapons  they 
were  called  after.  Thus,  the  Great  Tin-tie  makes  a 
crooked  pen-and-ink  outline  of  a  great  turtle ;  the 
Buffalo  sketches  a  buffalo ;  the  War  Hatchet  sets  a 
rough  image  of  that  weapon  for  his  mark.  So  with 
the  Arrow,  the  Fish,  the  Scalp,  the  Big  Canoe,  and 
all  of  them. 


208  AMERICAN   NOTES 

I  could  not  but  think  —  as  I  looked  at  these 
feeble  and  tremulous  productions  of  hands  which 
could  draw  the  longest  arrow  to  the  head  in  a  stout 
elk-horn  bow,  or  split  a  bead  or  feather  with  a  rifle 
ball  —  of  Crabbe's  musings  over  the  Parish  Eegister, 
and  the  irregular  scratches  made  with  a  pen  by 
men  who  would  plough  a  lengthy  furrow  straight 
from  end  to  end.  Nor  could  I  help  bestowing 
many  sorrowful  thoughts  upon  the  simple  warriors 
whose  hands  and  hearts  were  set  there  in  all  truth 
and  honesty ;  and  who  only  learned  in  course  of 
time  from  white  men  how  to  break  their  faith,  and 
quibble  out  of  forms  and  bonds.  I  wondered,  too, 
how  many  times  the  credulous  Big  Turtle,  or  trust- 
ing Little  Hatchet,  had  put  his  mark  to  treaties 
which  were  falsely  read  to  him ;  and  had  signed 
away,  he  knew  not  what,  until  it  went  and  cast  him 
loose  upon  the  new  possessors  of  the  land,  a  savage 
indeed. 

Our  host  announced,  before  our  early  dinner, 
that  some  members  of  the  legislative  body  proposed 
to  do  us  the  honor  of  calling.  He  had  kindly 
yielded  up  to  us  his  wife's  own  little  parlor,  and 
when  I  begged  that  he  would  show  them  in,  I  saw 
him  look  with  painful  apprehension  at  its  pretty 
carpet;  though,  being  otherwise  occupied  at  the 
time,  the  cause  of  his  uneasiness  did  not  occur  to 
me. 

It  certainly  would  have  been  more  pleasant  to  all 
parties  concerned,  and  would  not,  I  think,  have 
compromised  their  independence  in  any  material 
degree,  if  some  of  these  gentlemen  had  not  only 
yielded  to  the  prejudice  in  favor  of  spittoons,  but 
had  abandoned  themselves,  for  the  moment,  even 


FOB  GENERAL   CIRCULATION.  209 

to  the  conventional  absurdity  of  pocket-handker- 
chiefs. 

It  still  continued  to  rain  heavily,  and  when  we 
went  down  to  the  Canal  Boat  (for  that  was  the 
mode  of  conveyance  by  which  we  were  to  proceed) 
after  dinner,  the  weather  was  as  unpromising  and 
obstinately  wet  as  one  would  desire  to  see.  Nor 
was  the  sight  of  this  canal  boat,  in  which  we  were 
to  spend  three  or  four  days,  by  any  means  a  cheer- 
ful one ;  as  it  involved  some  uneasy  speculations 
concerning  the  disposal  of  the  passengers  at  night, 
and  opened  a  wide  field  of  inquiry  touching  the 
other  domestic  arrangements  of  the  establishment, 
which  was  sufficiently  disconcerting. 

However,  there  it  was  —  a  barge  with  a  little 
house  in  it,  viewed  from  the  outside ;  and  a  caravan 
at  a  fair,  viewed  from  within :  the  gentlemen  being 
accommodated  as  the  spectators  usually  are  in  one 
of  those  locomotive  museums  of  penny  wonders ; 
and  the  ladies  being  partitioned  off  by  a  red  curtain, 
after  the  manner  of  the  dwarfs  and  giants  in  the 
same  establishments,  whose  private  lives  are  passed 
in  rather  close  exclusiveness. 

We  sat  here,  looking  silently  at  the  row  of  little 
tables  which  extended  down  both  sides  of  the  cabin, 
and  listening  to  the  rain  as  it  dripped  and  pattered 
on  the  boat,  and  plashed  with  a  dismal  merriment 
in  the  water,  until  the  arrival  of  the  railway  train, 
for  whose  final  contribution  to  our  stock  of  passen- 
gers our  departure  was  alone  deferred.  It  brought 
a  great  many  boxes,  which  were  bumped  and  tossed 
upon  the  roof,  almost  as  painfully  as  if  they  had 
been  deposited  on  one's  own  head,  without  the 
intervention  of  a  porter's  knot;  and  several  damp 
14 


210  AMERICAN  NOTES. 

gentlemen,  whose  clothes,  on  their  drawing  round 
the  stove,  began  to  steam  again.  No  doubt  it 
would  have  been  a  thought  more  comfortable  if  the 
driving  rain,  which  now  poured  down  more  soak- 
ingly  than  ever,  had  admitted  of  a  window  being 
opened,  or  if  our  number  had  been  something  less 
than  thirty ;  but  there  was  scarcely  time  to  think 
as  much,  when  a  train  of  three  horses  was  attached 
to  the  tow-rope,  the  boy  upon  the  leader  smacked 
his  whip,  the  rudder  creaked  and  groaned  complain- 
ingly,  and  we  had  begun  our  journey. 


CHAPTER  X. 

SOME  FURTHER  ACCOUNT  OF  THE  CANAL  BOAT,  ITS 
DOMESTIC  ECONOMY,  AND  ITS  PASSENGERS. JOUR- 
NEY TO  PITTSBURG  ACROSS  THE  ALLEGHANY  MOUN- 
TAINS.   PITTSBURG. 

As  it  continued  to  rain  most  perseveringly,  we  all 
remained  below :  the  damp  gentlemen  round  the 
stove  gradually  becoming  mildewed  by  the  action  of 
the  fire :  and  the  dry  gentlemen  lying  at  full  length 
upon  the  seats,  or  slumbering  uneasily  with  their 
faces  on  the  tables,  or  walking  up  and  down  the 
cabin,  which  it  was  barely  possible  for  a  man  of  the 
middle  height  to  do  without  making  bald  places  on 
his  head  by  scraping  it  against  the  roof.  At  about 
six  o'clock  all  the  small  tables  were  put  together  to 
form  one  long  table,  and  everybody  sat  down  to 
tea,  coffee,  bread,  butter,  salmon,  shad,  liver,  steak, 
potatoes,  pickles,  ham,  chops,  black  puddings,  and 
sausages. 

"  Will  you  try,"  said  my  opposite  neighbor,  hand- 
ing me  a  dish  of  potatoes  broken  up  in  milk  and 
butter,  "  will  you  try  some  of  these  fixings  ?  " 

There  are  few  words  which  perform  such  various 
duties  as  this  word  "  fix."  It  is  the  Caleb  Quotem 
of  the  American  vocabulary.  You  call  upon  a  gen- 
211 


212  AMERICAN  NOTES 

tleman  in  a  country  town,  and  his  help  informs  you 
that  he  is  "  fixing  himself "  just  now,  but  will  be 
down  directly :  by  which  you  are  to  understand 
that  he  is  dressing.  You  inquire,  on  board  a  steam- 
boat, of  a  fellow-passenger,  whether  breakfast  will 
be  ready  soon,  and  he  tells  you  he  should  think  so, 
for.  when  he  was  last  below,  they  were  "  fixing  the 
tables :  "  in  other  words,  laying  the  cloth.  You  beg 
a  porter  to  collect  your  luggage,  and  he  entreats 
you  not  to  be  uneasy,  for  he'll  "  fix  it  presently : " 
and  if  you  complain  of  indisposition,  you  are  ad- 
vised to  have  recourse  to  Doctor  So-and-so,  who  will 
"  fix  you  "  in  no  time. 

One  night  I  ordered  a  bottle  of  mulled  wine  at  an 
hotel  where  I  was  staying,  and  waited  a  long  time 
for  it ;  at  length  it  was  put  upon  the  table,  with  an 
apology  from  the  landlord  that  he  feared  it  wasn't 
"  fixed  properly."  And  I  recollect  once,  at  a  stage- 
coach dinner,  overhearing  a  very  stern  gentleman 
demand  of  a  waiter  who  presented  him  with  a 
plate  of  under-done  roast  beef,  "  whether  he  called 
that  fixing  God  A'mighty's  vittles  ?  " 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  meal,  at  which  the 
invitation  was  tendered  to  me  which  has  occasioned 
this  digression,  was  disposed  of  somewhat  raven- 
ously; and  that  the  gentlemen  thrust  the  broad- 
bladed  knives  and  the  two-pronged  forks  further 
down  their  throats  than  I  ever  saw  the  same 
weapons  go  before,  except  in  the  hands  of  a  skilful 
juggler:  but  no  man  sat  down  until  the  ladies 
were  seated ;  or  omitted  any  little  act  of  politeness 
which  could  contribute  to  their  comfort.  Nor  did 
I  ever  once,  on  any  occasion,  anywhere,  during  my 
rambles  in  America,  see  a  woman  exposed  to  the 


FOR   GENERAL   CIRCULATION.  213 

slightest  act  of  rudeness,  incivility,  or  even  inatten- 
tion. 

By  the  time  the  meal  was  over,  the  rain,  which 
seemed  to  have  worn  itself  out  by  coming  down  so 
fast,  was  nearly  over  too ;  and  it  became  feasible  to 
go  on  deck :  which  was  a  great  relief,  notwithstand- 
ing its  being  a  very  small  deck,  and  being  rendered 
still  smaller  by  the  luggage,  which  was  heaped 
together  in  the  middle  under  a  tarpaulin  covering ; 
leaving,  on  either  side,  a  path  so  narrow,  that  it 
became  a  science  to  walk  to  and  fro  without  tum- 
bling overboard  into  the  canal.  It  was  somewhat 
embarrassing  at  first,  too,  to  have  to  duck  nimbly 
every  five  minutes  whenever  the  man  at  the  helm 
cried  "  Bridge  ! "  and  sometimes,  when  the  cry  was 
"Low  Bridge,"  to  lie  down  nearly  flat.  But  custom 
familiarizes  one  to  anything,  and  there  were  so 
many  bridges  that  it  took  a  very  short  time  to  get 
used  to  this. 

As  night  came  on,  and  we  drew  in  sight  of  the 
first  range  of  hills,  which  are  the  outposts  of  the 
Alleghany  Mountains,  the  scenery,  which  had  been 
uninteresting  hitherto,  became  more  bold  and 
striking.  The  wet  ground  reeked  and  smoked  after 
the  heavy  fall  of  rain;  and  the  croaking  of  the 
frogs  (whose  noise  in  these  parts  is  almost  incredi- 
ble) sounded  as  though  a  million  of  fairy  teams 
with  bells  were  travelling  through  the  air,  and 
keeping  pace  with  us.  The  night  was  cloudy  yet, 
but  moonlight  too :  and  when  we  crossed  the  Sus- 
quehanna  Elver — over  which  there  is  an  extraordi- 
nary wooden  bridge  with  two  galleries,  one  above 
the  other,  so  that,  even  there,  two  boat-teams 
meeting  may  pass  without  confusion — it  was  wild 
and  grand. 


214  AMERICAN  NOTES 

I  have  mentioned  my  having  been  in  some  uncer- 
tainty and  doubt,  at  first,  relative  to  the  sleeping 
arrangements  on  board  this  boat.  I  remained  in  the 
same  vague  state  of  mind  until  ten  o'clock  or  there- 
abouts, when,  going  below,  I  found  suspended,  on 
either  side  of  the  cabin,  three  long  tiers  of  hanging 
book-shelves,  designed  apparently  for  volumes  of  the 
small  octavo  size.  Looking  with  greater  attention 
at  these  contrivances  (wondering  to  find  such  liter- 
ary preparations  in  such  a  place),  I  descried  on  each 
shelf  a  sort  of  microscopic  sheet  and  blanket ;  then 
I  began  dimly  to  comprehend  that  the  passengers 
were  the  library,  and  that  they  were  to  be  arranged 
edgewise  on  these  shelves  till  morning. 

I  was  assisted  to  this  conclusion  by  seeing  some 
of  them  gather  round  the  master  of  the  boat  at 
one  of  the  tables,  drawing  lots  with  all  the  anxieties 
and  passions  of  gamesters  depicted  in  their  counte- 
nances ;  while  others,  with  small  pieces  of  cardboard 
in  their  hands,  were  groping  among  the  shelves  in 
search  of  numbers  corresponding  with  those  they 
had  drawn.  As  soon  as  any  gentleman  found  his 
number,  he  took  possession  of  it  by  immediately 
undressing  himself  and  crawling  into  bed.  The 
rapidity  with  which  an  agitated  gambler  subsided 
into  a  snoring  slumberer  was  one  of  the  most  singu- 
lar effects  I  have  ever  witnessed.  As  to  the  ladies, 
they  were  already  abed,  behind  the  red  curtain, 
which  was  carefully  drawn  and  pinned  up  the  cen- 
tre ;  though  as  every  cough,  or  sneeze,  or  whisper, 
behind  this  curtain,  was  perfectly  audible  before  it, 
we  had  still  a  lively  consciousness  of  their  society. 

The  politeness  of  the  person  in  authority  had 
secured  to  me  a  shelf  in  a  nook  near  this  red  cur- 


FOB  GENERAL   CIRCULATION.  215 

tain,  in  some  degree  removed  from  the  great  body 
of  sleepers:  to  which  place  I  retired,  with  many 
acknowledgments  to  him  for  his  attention.  I  found 
it,  on  after-measurement,  just  the  width  of  an  ordi- 
nary sheet  of  Bath  post  letter-paper ;  and  I  was  at 
first  in  some  uncertainty  as  to  the  best  means  of 
getting  into  it.  But  the  shelf  being  a  bottom  one, 
I  finally  determined  on  lying  upon  the  floor,  rolling 
gently  in,  stopping  immediately  I  touched  the  mat- 
tress, and  remaining  for  the  night  with  that  side 
uppermost,  whatever  it  might  be.  Luckily,  I  came 
upon  my  back  at  exactly  the  right  moment.  I  was 
much  alarmed,  on  looking  upward,  to  see,  by  the 
shape  of  his  half  yard  of  sacking  (which  his  weight 
had  bent  into  an  exceedingly  tight  bag),  that  there 
was  a  very  heavy  gentleman  above  me,  whom  the 
slender  cords  seemed  quite  incapable  of  holding; 
and  I  could  not  help  reflecting  upon  the  grief  of 
my  wife  and  family  in  the  event  of  his  coming 
down  in  the  night.  But,  as  I  could  not  have  got  up 
again  without  a  severe  bodily  struggle,  which  might 
have  alarmed  the  ladies  ;  and  as  I  had  nowhere  to 
go  to  even  if  I  had ;  I  shut  my  eyes  upon  the  dan- 
ger, and  remained  there. 

One  of  two  remarkable  circumstances  is  indisput- 
ably a  fact,  with  reference  to  that  class  of  society 
who  travel  in  these  boats.  Either  they  carry  their 
restlessness  to  such  a  pitch  that  they  never  sleep  at 
all ;  or  they  expectorate  in  dreams,  which  would  be 
a  remarkable  mingling  of  the  real  and  ideal.  All 
night  long,  and  every  night,  on  this  canal,  there  was 
a  perfect  storm  and  tempest  of  spitting ;  and  once 
my  coat,  being  in  the  very  centre  of  a  hurricane 
sustained  by  five  gentlemen  (which  moved  vertically, 


216  AMERICAN  NOTES 

strictly  carrying  out  Reid's  Theory  of  the  Law  of 
Storms),  I  was  fain  the  next  morning  to  lay  it  on 
the  deck,  and  rub  it  down  with  fair  water  before  it 
was  in  a  condition  to  be  worn  again. 

Between  five  and  six  o'clock  in  the  morning  we 
got  up,  and  some  of  us  went  on  deck,  to  give  them 
an  opportunity  of  taking  the  shelves  down ;  while 
others,  the  morning  being  very  cold,  crowded  round 
the  rusty  stove,  cherishing  the  newly  kindled  fire, 
and  filling  the  grate  with  those  voluntary  contribu- 
tions of  which  they  had  been  so  liberal  all  night. 
The  washing  accommodations  were  primitive.  There 
was  a  tin  ladle  chained  to  the  deck,  with  which  every 
gentleman  who  thought  it  necessary  to  cleanse  him- 
self (many  were  superior  to  this  weakness)  fished  the 
dirty  water  out  of  the  canal,  and  poured  it  into  a  tin 
basin,  secured  in  like  manner.  There  was  also  a 
jack-towel.  And,  hanging  up  before  a  little  look- 
ing-glass in  the  bar,  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of 
the  bread  and  cheese  and  biscuits,  were  a  public 
comb  and  brush. 

At  eight  o'clock,  the  shelves  being  taken  down 
and  put  away,  and  the  tables  joined  together,  every- 
body sat  down  to  the  tea,  coffee,  bread,  butter,  sal- 
mon, shad,  liver,  steak,  potatoes,  pickles,  ham,  chops, 
black  puddings,  and  sausages,  all  over  again.  Some 
were  fond  of  compounding  this  variety,  and  having 
it  all  on  their  plates  at  once.  As  each  gentleman 
got  through  his  own  personal  amount  of  tea,  coffee, 
bread,  butter,  salmon,  shad,  liver,  steak,  potatoes, 
pickles,  ham,  chops,  black  puddings,  and  sausages, 
he  rose  up  and  walked  off.  When  everybody  had 
done  with  everything,  the  fragments  were  cleared 
away :  and  one  of  the  waiters,  appearing  anew  in 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  217 

the  character  of  a  barber,  shaved  such  of  the  com- 
pany as  desired  to  be  shaved ;  while  the  remainder 
looked  on,  or  yawned  over  their  newspapers.  Din- 
ner was  breakfast  again,  without  the  tea  and  coffee ; 
and  supper  and  breakfast  were  identical. 

There  was  a  man  on  board  this  boat  with  a  light, 
fresh-colored  face,  and  a  pepper-and-salt  suit  of 
clothes,  who  was  the  most  inquisitive  fellow  that 
can  possibly  be  imagined.  He  never  spoke  other- 
wise than  interrogatively.  He  was  an  embodied 
inquiry.  Sitting  down  or  standing  up,  still  or  mov- 
ing, walking  the  deck  or  taking  his  meals,  there  he 
was,  with  a  great  note  of  interrogation  in  each  eye, 
two  in  his  cocked  ears,  two  more  in  his  turned-up 
nose  and  chin,  at  least  half  a  dozen  more  about  the 
corners  of  his  mouth,  and  the  largest  one  of  all  in 
his  hair,  which  was  brushed  pertly  off  his  forehead 
in  a  flaxen  clump.  Every  button  in  his  clothes  said, 
"Eh?  What's  that?  Did  you  speak  ?  Say  that 
again,  will  you  ?  "  He  was  always  wide  awake,  like 
the  enchanted  bride  who  drove  her  husband  frantic ; 
always  restless  ;  always  thirsting  for  answers ;  per- 
petually seeking  and  never  finding.  There  never 
was  such  a  curious  man. 

I  wore  a  fur  great-coat  at  that  time,  and  before 
we  were  well  clear  of  the  wharf,  he  questioned  me 
concerning  it,  and  its  price,  and  where  I  bought  it, 
and  when,  and  what  fur  it  was,  and  what  it  weighed, 
and  what  it  cost.  Then  he  took  notice  of  my  watch, 
and  asked  what  that  cost,  and  whether  i'o  was  a 
French  watch,  and  where  I  got  it,  and  how  I  got 
it,  and  whether  I  bought  it  or  had  it  given  me,  and 
how  it  went,  and  where  the  keyhole  was,  and  when 
I  wound  it,  every  night  or  every  morning,  and 


218  AMERICAN  NOTES 

whether  I  ever  forgot  to  wind  it  at  all,  and  if  I  did, 
what  then  ?  Where  had  I  been  to  last,  and  where 
was  I  going  next,  and  where  was  I  going  after  that, 
and  had  I  seen  the  President,  and  what  did  he  say, 
and  what  did  I  say,  and  what  did  he  say  when  I  had 
said  that  ?  Eh  ?  Lor,  now  !  do  tell ! 

Finding  that  nothing  would  satisfy  him,  I  evaded 
his  questions  after  the  first  score  or  two,  and  in  par- 
ticular pleaded  ignorance  respecting  the  name  of  the 
fur  whereof  the  coat  was  made.  I  am  unable  to  say 
whether  this  was  the  reason,  but  that  coat  fascinated 
him  ever  afterwards ;  he  usually  kept  close  behind 
me  as  I  walked,  and  moved  as  I  moved,  that  he  might 
look  at  it  the  better ;  and  he  frequently  dived  into 
narrow  places  after  me  at  the  risk  of  his  life,  that  he 
might  have  the  satisfaction  of  passing  his  hand  up 
the  back,  and  rubbing  it  the  wrong  way. 

We  had  another  odd  specimen  on  board  of  a  dif- 
ferent kind.  This  was  a  thin-faced,  spare-figured 
man  of  middle  age  and  stature,  dressed  in  a  dusty 
drabbish-colored  suit,  such  as  I  never  saw  before. 
He  was  perfectly  quiet  during  the  first  part  of  the 
journey :  indeed,  I  don't  remember  having  so  much 
as  seen  him  until  he  was  brought  out  by  circum- 
stances, as  great  men  often  are.  The  conjunction 
of  events  which  made  him  famous  happened,  briefly, 
thus. 

The  canal  extends  to  the  foot  of  the  mountain,  and 
there,  of  course,  it  stops ;  the  passengers  being  con- 
veyed across  it  by  land  carriage,  and  taken  on  after- 
wards by  another  canal  boat,  the  counterpart  of  the 
first,  which  awaits  them  on  the  other  side.  There 
are  two  canal  lines  of  passage  boats ;  one  is  called 
the  Express,  and  one  (a  cheaper  one)  the  Pioneer. 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  219 

The  Pioneer  gets  first  to  the  mountain,  and  waits 
for  the  Express  people  to  come  up ;  both  sets  of  pass- 
engers being  conveyed  across  it  at  the  same  time. 
We  were  the  Express  company ;  but  when  we  had 
crossed  the  mountain,  and  had  come  to  the  second 
boat,  the  proprietors  took  it  into  their  heads  to  draft 
all  the  Pioneers  into  it  likewise,  so  that  we  were 
five  and  forty  at  least,  and  the  accession  of  passen- 
gers was  not  at  all  of  that  kind  which  improved  the 
prospect  of  sleeping  at  night.  Our  people  grumbled 
at  this,  as  people  do  in  such  cases ;  but  suffered  the 
boat  to  be  towed  off  with  the  whole  freight  aboard 
nevertheless ;  and  away  we  went  down  the  canal. 
At  home  I  should  have  protested  lustily,  but,  being 
a  foreigner  here,  I  held  my  peace.  Not  so  this  pass- 
enger. He  cleft  a  path  among  the  people  on  deck 
(we  were  nearly  all  on  deck),  and,  without  address- 
ing anybody  whomsoever,  soliloquized  as  follows :  — 
"This  may  suit  you,  this  may,  but  it  don't  suit 
me.  This  may  be  all  very  well  with  Down  Easters, 
and  men  of  Boston  raising,  but  it  won't  suit  my 
figure  nohow ;  and  no  two  ways  about  that ;  and  so  I 
tell  you.  Now !  I'm  from  the  brown  forests  of  the 
Mississippi,  /  am,  and  when  the  sun  shines  on  me, 
it  does  shine  —  a  little.  It  don't  glimmer  where  1 
live,  the  sun  don't.  No.  I'm  a  brown  forester,  I 
am.  I  ain't  a  Johnny  Cake.  There  are  wo  smooth 
skins  where  I  live.  We're  rough  men  there.  Rather. 
If  Down  Easters  and  men  of  Boston  raising  like  this, 
I'm  glad  of  it,  but  I'm  none  of  that  raising  sor  of 
that  breed.  No.  This  company  wants  a  little  fix- 
ing, it  does.  I'm  the  wrong  sort  of  man  for  'em,  / 
am.  They  won't  like  me,  they  won't.  This  is  piling 
of  it  up  a  little  too  mountainous,  this  is."  At  the 


220  AMERICAN  NOTES 

end  of  every  one  of  these  short  sentences  he  turned 
upon  his  heel,  and  walked  the  other  way ;  checking 
himself  abruptly  when  he  had  finished  another  short 
sentence,  and  turning  back  again. 

It  is  impossible  for  me  to  say  what  terrific  mean- 
ing was  hidden  in  the  words  of  this  brown  forester, 
but  I  know  that  the  other  passengers  looked  on  in  a 
sort  of  admiring  horror,  and  that  presently  the  boat 
was  put  back  to  the  wharf,  and  as  many  of  the 
Pioneers  as  could  be  coaxed  or  bullied  into  going 
away  were  got  rid  of. 

When  we  started  again,  some  of  the  boldest  spirits 
on  board  made  bold  to  say  to  the  obvious  occasion  of 
this  improvement  in  our  prospects,  "  Much  obliged 
to  you,  sir : "  whereunto  the  brown  forester  (waving 
his  hand,  and  still  walking  up  and  down  as  before), 
replied,  "No,  you  ain't.  You're  none  o'  my  raising. 
You  may  act  for  yourselves,  you  may.  I  have  pinted 
out  the  way.  Down  Easters  and  Johnny  Cakes  can 
follow  if  they  please.  I  ain't  a  Johnny  Cake,  /ain't. 
I  am  from  the  brown  forests  of  the  Mississippi,  / 
am  "  —  and  so  on,  as  before.  He  was  unanimously 
voted  one  of  the  tables  for  his  bed  at  night  —  there 
is  a  great  contest  for  the  tables  —  in  consideration 
of  his  public  services  :  and  he  had  the  warmest  cor- 
ner by  the  stove  throughout  the  rest  of  the  journey. 
But  I  never  could  find  out  that  he  did  anything  ex- 
cept sit  there ;  nor  did  I  hear  him  speak  again  until, 
in  the  midst  of  the  bustle  and  turmoil  of  getting  the 
luggage  ashore  in  the  dark  at  Pittsburg,  I  stumbled 
over  him  as  he  sat  smoking  a  cigar  on  the  cabin 
steps,  and  heard  him  muttering  to  himself,  with  a 
short  laugh  of  defiance,  "  I  ain't  a  Johnny  Cake,  / 
ain't.  I'm  from  the  brown  forests  of  the  Missis- 


FOE   GENERAL  CIBCULATIOST.  221 

sippi,  I  am,  damme ! "  I  am  inclined  to  argue, 
from  this,  that  he  had  never  left  off  saying  so; 
but  I  could  not  make  affidavit  of  that  part  of 
the  story,  if  required  to  dp  so  by  my  Queen  and 
Country. 

As  we  have  not  reached  Pittsburg  yet,  however, 
in  the  order  of  our  narrative,  I  may  go  on  to  remark 
that  breakfast  was  perhaps  the  least  desirable  meal 
of  the  day,  as,  in  addition  to  the  many  savory  odors 
arising  from  the  eatables  already  mentioned,  there 
were  whiffs  of  gin,  whiskey,  brandy,  and  rum  from 
the  little  bar  hard  by,  and  a  decided  seasoning  of 
stale  tobacco.  Many  of  the  gentlemen  passengers 
were  far  from  particular  in  respect  of  their  linen, 
which  was  in  some  cases  as  yellow  as  the  little  riv- 
ulets that  had  trickled  from  the  corners  of  their 
mouths  in  chewing,  and  dried  there.  Nor  was  the 
atmosphere  quite  free  from  zephyr  whisperings  of 
the  thirty  beds  which  had  just  been  cleared  away, 
and  of  which  we  were  further  and  more  pressingly 
reminded  by  the  occasional  appearance  on  the  table- 
cloth of  a  kind  of  Game  not  mentioned  in  the  Bill 
of  Fare. 

And  yet  despite  these  oddities  —  and  even  they 
had,  for  me  at  least,  a  humor  of  their  own  —  there 
was  much  in  this  mode  of  travelling  which  I 
heartily  enjoyed  at  the  time,  and  look  back  upon 
with  great  pleasure.  Even  the  running  up,  bare- 
necked, at  five  o'clock  in  the  morning,  fmm  the 
tainted  cabin  to  the  dirty  deck ;  scooping  up  the  icy 
water,  plunging  one's  head  into  it,  and  drawing  it 
out  all  fresh  and  glowing  with  the  cold ;  was  a  good 
thing.  The  fast,  brisk  walk  upon  the  towing-path, 
between  that  time  and  breakfast,  when  every  vein 


222  AMERICAN  NOTES 

and  artery  seemed  to  tingle  with  health ;  the  exqui- 
site beauty  of  the  opening  day,  when  light  came 
gleaming  off  from  everything ;  the  lazy  motion  of 
the  boat,  when  one  lay  idly  on  the  deck,  looking 
through,  rather  than  at,  the  deep  blue  sky;  the 
gliding  on  at  night,  so  noiselessly,  past  frowning 
hills,  sullen  with  dark  trees,  and  sometimes  angry 
in  one  red  burning  spot  high  up,  where  unseen  men 
lay  crouching  round  a  fire ;  the  shining  out  of  the 
bright  stars,  undisturbed  by  noise  of  wheels  or 
steam,  or  any  other  sound  than  the  liquid  rippling 
of  the  water  as  the  boat  went  on :  all  these  were 
pure  delights. 

Then,  there  were  new  settlements  and  detached 
log-cabins  and  frame-houses,  full  of  interest  for 
strangers  from  an  old  country :  cabins  with  simple 
ovens,  outside,  made  of  clay ;  and  lodgings  for  the 
pigs  nearly  as  good  as  many  of  the  human  quarters ; 
broken  windows,  patched  with  worn-out  hats,  old 
clothes,  old  boards,  fragments  of  blankets  and 
paper ;  and  home-made  dressers  standing  in  the 
open  air  without  the  door,  whereon  was  ranged  the 
household  store,  not  hard  to  count,  of  earthen  jars 
and  pots.  The  eye  was  pained  to  see  the  stumps 
of  great  trees  thickly  strewn  in  every  field  of  wheat, 
and  seldom  to  lose  the  eternal  swamp  and  dull 
morass,  with  hundreds  of  rotten  trunks  and  twisted 
branches  steeped  in  its  unwholesome  water.  It  was 
quite  sad  and  oppressive  to  come  upon  great  tracts 
where  settlers  had  been  burning  down  the  trees, 
and  where  their  wounded  bodies  lay  about  like  those 
of  murdered  creatures,  while  here  and  there  some 
charred  and  blackened  giant  reared  aloft  two  with- 
ered arms,  and  seemed  to  call  down  curses  on  his 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  223 

foes.  Sometimes,  at  night,  the  way  wound  through 
some  lonely  gorge,  like  a  mountain  pass  in  Scotland, 
shining  and  coldly  glittering  in  the  light  of  the 
moon,  and  so  closed  in  by  high  steep  hills  all  round, 
that  there  seemed  to  be  no  egress  save  through 
the  narrower  path  by  which  we  had  come,  until 
one  rugged  hillside  seemed  to  open,  and,  shutting 
out  the  moonlight  as  we  passed  into  its  gloomy 
throat,  wrapped  our  new  course  in  shade  and  dark- 
ness. 

We  had  left  Harrisburg  on  Friday.  On  Sunday 
morning  we  arrived  at  the  foot  of  the  mountain, 
which  is  crossed  by  railroad.  There  are  ten  inclined 
planes;  five  ascending,  and  five  descending;  the 
carriages  are  dragged  up  the  former,  and  let  slowly 
down  the  latter,  by  means  of  stationary  engines; 
the  comparatively  level  spaces  between  being  trav- 
ersed, sometimes  by  horse,  and  sometimes  by  engine 
power,  as  the  case  demands.  Occasionally  the  rails 
are  laid  upon  the  extreme  verge  of  a  giddy  preci- 
pice ;  and  looking  from  the  carriage  window,  the 
traveller  gazes  sheer  down,  without  a  stone  or  scrap 
of  fence  between,  into  the  mountain  depths  below. 
The  journey  is  very  carefully  made,  however ;  only 
two  carriages  travelling  together ;  and,  while  proper 
precautions  are  taken,  is  not  to  be  dreaded  for  its 
dangers. 

It  was  very  pretty,  travelling  thus  at  a  rapid  pace 
along  the  heights  of  the  mountain  in  a  keen  wind, 
to  look  down  into  a  valley  full  of  light  and  softness ; 
catching  glimpses,  through  the  tree-tops,  of  scattered 
cabins ;  children  running  to  the  doors ;  dogs  bursting 
out  to  bark,  whom  we  could  see  without  hearing; 
terrified  pigs  scampering  homewards;  families  sit- 


224  AMERICAN  NOTES 

ting  out  in  their  rude  gardens ;  cows  gazing  upward 
with  a  stupid  indifference ;  men  in  their  shirt- 
sleeves, looking  on  at  their  unfinished  houses,  plan- 
ning out  to-morrow's  work ;  and  we  riding  onward, 
high  above  them,  like  a  whirlwind.  It  was  amus- 
ing, too,  when  we  had  dined,  and  rattled  down  a 
steep  pass,  having  no  other  moving  power  than  the 
weight  of  the  carriages  themselves,  to  see  the  engine, 
released  long  after  us,  come  buzzing  down  alone, 
like  a  great  insect,  its  back  of  green  and  gold  so 
shining  in  the  sun,  that  if  it  had  spread  a  pair  of 
wings  and  soared  away,  no  one  would  have  had 
occasion,  as  I  fancied,  for  the  least  surprise.  But 
it  stopped  short  of  us  in  a  very  business-like  man- 
ner when  we  reached  the  canal;  and,  before  we 
left  the  wharf,  went  panting  up  this  hill  again, 
with  the  passengers  who  had  waited  our  arrival  for 
the  means  of  traversing  the  road  by  which  we  had 
come. 

On  the  Monday  evening,  furnace  fires  and  clank- 
ing hammers  on  the  banks  of  the  canal  warned  us 
that  we  approached  the  termination  of  this  part  of 
our  journey.  After  going  through  another  dreamy 
place  —  a  long  aqueduct  across  the  Alleghany 
River,  which  was  stranger  than  the  bridge  at  Har- 
risburg,  being  a  vast,  low,  wooden  chamber  full  of 
water  —  we  emerged  upon  that  ugly  confusion  of 
backs  of  buildings,  and  crazy  galleries  and  stairs, 
which  always  abuts  on  water,  whether  it  be  river, 
sea,  canal,  or  ditch :  and  were  at  Pittsburg. 

Pittsburg  is  like  Birmingham  in  England;  at 
least,  its  townspeople  say  so.  Setting  aside  the 
streets,  the  shops,  the  houses,  wagons,  factories, 
public  buildings,  and  population,  perhaps  it  may  be. 


FOR   GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  225 

It  certainly  has  a  great  quantity  of  smoke  hanging 
about  it,  and  is  famous  for  its  iron-works.  Besides 
the  prison  to  which  I  have  already  referred,  this 
town  contains  a  pretty  arsenal  and  other  institu- 
tions. It  is  very  beautifully  situated  on  the  Alle- 
ghany  River,  over  which  there  are  two  bridges ;  and 
the  villas  of  the  wealthier  citizens,  sprinkled  about 
the  high  grounds  in  the  neighborhood,  are  pretty 
enough.  We  lodged  at  a  most  excellent  hotel,  and 
were  admirably  served.  As  usual,  it  was  full  of 
boarders,  was  very  large,  and  had  a  broad  colonnade 
to  every  story  of  the  house. 

We  tarried  here  three  days.  Our  next  point  was 
Cincinnati:  and  as  this  was  a  steamboat  journey, 
and  western  steamboats  usually  blow  up  one  or  two 
a  week  in  the  season,  it  was  advisable  to  collect 
opinions  in  reference  to  the  comparative  safety  of 
the  vessels  bound  that  way,  then  lying  in  the  river. 
One  called  the  Messenger  was  the  best  recom- 
mended. She  had  been  advertised  to  start  posi- 
tively every  day  for  a  fortnight  or  so,  and  had  not 
gone  yet,  nor  did  her  captain  seem  to  have  any  fixed 
intention  on  the  subject.  But  this  is  the  custom : 
for  if  the  law  were  to  bind  down  a  free  and  inde- 
pendent citizen  to  keep  his  word  with  the  public, 
what  would  become  of  the  liberty  of  the  subject  ? 
Besides,  it  is  in  the  way  of  trade.  And  if  passen- 
gers be  decoyed  in  the  way  of  trade,  and  people  be 
inconvenienced  in  the  way  of  trade,  what  man,  who 
is  a  sharp  tradesman  himself,  shall  say,  "  We  must 
put  a  stop  to  this  "  ? 

Impressed  by  the  deep  solemnity  of  the  public 
announcement,  I  (being  then  ignorant  of  these 
usages)  was  for  hurrying  on  board  in  a  breathless 
15 


226  AMERICAN  NOTES. 

state  immediately ;  but  receiving  private  and  confi- 
dential information  that  the  boat  would  certainly 
not  start  until  Friday,  April  the  First,  we  made  our- 
selves very  comfortable  in  the  meanwhile,  and  went 
on  board  at  noon  that  day. 


CHAPTER  XL 

FROM     PITTSBURG     TO     CINCINNATI     IN     A     WESTERN 
STEAMBOAT. CINCINNATI. 

THE  Messenger  was  one  among  a  crowd  of  high- 
pressure  steamboats  clustered  together  by  the  wharf- 
side,  which,  looked  down  upon  from  the  rising 
ground  that  forms  the  landing-place,  and  backed  by 
the  lofty  bank  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  river, 
appeared  no  larger  than  so  many  floating  models. 
She  had  some  forty  passengers  on  board,  exclusive 
of  the  poorer  persons  on  the  lower  deck;  and  in 
half  an  hour,  or  less,  proceeded  on  her  way. 

We  had,  for  ourselves,  a  tiny  stateroom  with  two 
berths  in  it,  opening  out  of  the  ladies'  cabin.  There 
was,  undoubtedly,  something  satisfactory  in  this 
"  location,"  inasmuch  as  it  was  in  the  stern,  and  we 
had  been  a  great  many  times  very  gravely  recom- 
mended to  keep  as  far  aft  as  possible,  "  because  the 
steamboats  generally  blew  up  forward."  Nor  was 
this  an  unnecessary  caution,  as  the  occurrence  and 
circumstances  of  more  than  one  such  fatality  during 
our  stay  sufficiently  testified.  Apart  from  this  source 
of  self-congratulation,  it  was  an  unspeakable  relief 
to  have  any  place,  no  matter  how  confined,  where 
one  could  be  alone :  and  as  the  row  of  little  cham- 
227 


228  AMERICAN   NOTES 

bers,  of  which  this  was  one,  had  each  a  second  glass 
door  besides  that  in  the  ladies'  cabin,  which  opened 
on  a  narrow  gallery  outside  the  vessel,  where  the 
other  passengers  seldom  came,  and  where  one  could 
sit  in  peace  and  gaze  upon  the  shifting  prospect,  we 
took  possession  of  our  new  quarters  with  much 
pleasure. 

If  the  native  packets  I  have  already  described  be 
unlike  anything  we  are  in  the  habit  of  seeing  on 
water,  these  western  vessels  are  still  more  foreign 
to  all  the  ideas  we  are  accustomed  to  entertain  of 
boats.  I  hardly  know  what  to  liken  them  to,  or 
how  to  describe  them; 

In  the  first  place,  they  have  no  mast,  cordage, 
tackle,  rigging,  or  other  such  boat-like  gear;  nor 
have  they  anything  in  their  shape  at  all  calculated 
to  remind  one  of  a  boat's  head,  stern,  sides,  or  keel. 
Except  that  they  are  in  the  water,  and  display  a 
couple  of  paddle-boxes,  they  might  be  intended,  for 
anything  that  appears  to  the  contrary,  to  perform 
some  unknown  service,  high  and  dry,  upon  a  moun- 
tain-top. There  is  no  visible  deck  even:  nothing 
but  a  long,  black,  ugly  roof,  covered  with  burnt-out 
feathery  sparks ;  above  which  tower  two  iron  chim- 
neys, and  a  hoarse  escape  valve,  and  a  glass  steerage 
house.  Then,  in  order  as  the  eye  descends  towards 
the  water,  are  the  sides,  and  doors,  and  windows  of 
the  staterooms,  jumbled  as  oddly  together  as  though 
they  formed  a  small  street,  built  by  the  varying 
tastes  of  a  dozen  men :  the  whole  is  supported  on 
beams  and  pillars  resting  on  a  dirty  barge,  but  a  few 
inches  above  the  water's  edge :  and  in  the  narrow 
space  between  this  upper  structure  and  this  barge's 
deck  are  the  furnace  fires  and  machinery,  open  at 


FOE   GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  229 

the  sides  to  every  wind  that  blows,  and  every  storm 
of  rain  it  drives  along  its  path. 

Passing  one  of  these  boats  at  night,  and  seeing 
the  great  body  of  fire,  exposed  as  I  have  just  de- 
scribed, that  rages  and  roars  beneath  the  frail  pile 
of  painted  wood :  the  machinery  not  warded  off  or 
guarded  in  any  way,  but  doing  its  work  in  the  midst 
of  the  crowd  of  idlers  and  emigrants  and  children 
who  throng  the  lower  deck :  under  the  management, 
too,  of  reckless  men  whose  acquaintance  with  its 
mysteries  may  have  been  of  six  months'  standing : 
one  feels  directly  that  the  wonder  is,  not  that  there 
should  be  so  many  fatal  accidents,  but  that  any 
journey  should  be  safely  made. 

Within,  there  is  one  long  narrow  cabin,  the  whole 
length  of  the  boat ;  from  which  the  staterooms  open 
on  both  sides.  A  small  portion  of  it  at  the  stern  is 
partitioned  off  for  the  ladies ;  and  the  bar  is  at  the 
opposite  extreme.  There  is  a  long  table  down  the 
centre,  and  at  either  end  a  stove.  The  washing 
apparatus  is  forward,  on  the  deck.  It  is  a  little 
better  than  on  board  the  canal  boat,  but  not  much. 
In  all  modes  of  travelling,  the  American  customs, 
with  reference  to  the  means  of  personal  cleanliness 
and  wholesome  ablution,  are  extremely  negligent 
and  filthy ;  and  I  strongly  incline  to  the  belief  that 
a  considerable  amount  of  illness  is  referable  to  this 
cause. 

We  are  to  be  on  board  the  Messenger  three  days  : 
arriving  at  Cincinnati  (barring  accidents)  on  Mon- 
day morning.  There  are  three  meals  a  day.  Break- 
fast at  seven,  dinner  at  half-past  twelve,  supper 
about  six.  At  each  there  are  a  great  many  small 
dishes  and  plates  upon  the  table,  with  very  little  in 


230  AMERICAN  NOTES 

them ;  so  that,  although  there  is  every  appearance 
of  a  mighty  "  spread,"  there  is  seldom  really  more 
than  a  joint :  except  for  those  who  fancy  slices  of 
beet-root,  shreds  of  dried  beef,  complicated  entan- 
glements of  yellow  pickle,  maize,  Indian  corn,  apple 
sauce,  and  pumpkin. 

Some  people  fancy  all  these  little  dainties  together 
(and  sweet  preserves  besides),  by  way  of  relish  to 
their  roast  pig.  They  are  generally  those  dyspeptic 
ladies  and  gentlemen  who  eat  unheard-of  quantities 
of  hot  corn  bread  (almost  as  good  for  the  digestion 
as  a  kneaded  pincushion)  for  breakfast  and  for  sup- 
per. Those  who  do  not  observe  this  custom,  and 
who  help  themselves  several  times  instead,  usually 
suck  their  knives  and  forks  meditatively  until  they 
have  decided  what  to  take  next ;  then  pull  them  out 
of  their  mouths ;  put  them  in  the  dish ;  help  them- 
selves ;  and  fall  to  work  again.  At  dinner  there  is 
nothing  to  drink  upon  the  table  but  great  jugs  full 
of  cold  water.  Nobody  says  anything,  at  any  meal, 
to  anybody.  All  the  passengers  are  very  dismal, 
and  seem  to  have  tremendous  secrets  weighing  on 
their  minds.  There  is  no  conversation,  no  laughter, 
no  cheerfulness,  no  sociality,  except  in  spitting ;  and 
that  is  done  in  silent  fellowship  round  the  stove, 
when  the  meal  is  over.  Every  man  sits  down  dull 
and  languid;  swallows  his  fare  as  if  breakfasts, 
dinners,  and  suppers  were  necessities  of  nature 
never  to  be  coupled  with  recreation  or  enjoyment ; 
and,  having  bolted  his  food  in  a  gloomy  silence, 
bolts  himself  in  the  same  state.  But  for  these  ani- 
mal observances,  you  might  suppose  the  whole  male 
portion  of  the  company  to  be  the  melancholy  ghosts 
of  departed  book-keepers,  who  had  fallen  dead  at 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  231 

the  desk :  such  is  their  weary  air  of  business  and  cal- 
culation. Undertakers  on  duty  would  be  sprightly 
beside  them  ;  and  a  collation  of  funeral  baked  meats, 
in  comparison  with  these  meals,  would  be  a  spar- 
kling festivity. 

The  people  are  all  alike,  too.  There  is  no  diver- 
sity of  character.  They  travel  about  on  the  same 
errands,  say  and  do  the  same  things  in  exactly  the 
same  manner,  and  follow  in  the  same  dull,  cheerless 
round.  All  down  the  long  table  there  is  scarcely  a 
man  who  is  in  anything  different  from  his  neighbor. 
It  is  quite  a  relief  to  have,  sitting  opposite,  that 
little  girl  of  fifteen  with  the  loquacious  chin :  who, 
to  do  her  justice,  acts  up  to  it,  and  fully  identities 
Nature's  handwriting  ;  for,  of  all  the  small  chatter- 
boxes that  ever  invaded  the  repose  of  drowsy  ladies' 
cabin,  she  is  the  first  and  foremost.  The  beautiful 
girl  who  sits  a  little  beyond  her  —  farther  down  the 
table  there  —  married  the  young  man  with  the  dark 
whiskers,  who  sits  beyond  her,  only  last  month. 
They  are  going  to  settle  in  the  very  Far  West, 
where  he  has  lived  four  years,  but  where  she  has 
never  been.  They  were  both  overturned  in  a  stage- 
coach the  other  day  (a  bad  omen  anywhere  else, 
where  overturns  are  not  so  common),  and  his  head, 
which  bears  the  marks  of  a  recent  wound,  is  bound 
up  still.  She  was  hurt,  too,  at  the  same  time,  and 
lay  insensible  for  some  days ;  bright  as  her  eyes  are 
now. 

Further  down  still,  sits  a  man  who  is  going  some 
miles  beyond  their  place  of  destination  to  "  im- 
prove "  a  newly  discovered  copper  mine.  He  carries 
the  village  —  that  is  to  be  —  with  him :  a  few  frame 
cottages,  and  an  apparatus  for  smelting  the  copper. 


232  AMEEICAN  NOTES 

He  carries  its  people  too.  They  are  partly  Ameri- 
can and  partly  Irish,  and  herd  together  on  the 
lower  deck;  where  they  amused  themselves  last 
evening  till  the  night  was  pretty  far  advanced,  by 
alternately  tiring  off  pistols  and  singing  hymns. 

They,  and  the  very  few  who  have  been  left  at 
table  twenty  minutes,  rise  and  go  away.  We  do  so 
too ;  and,  passing  through  our  little  stateroom, 
resume  our  seats  in  the  quiet  gallery  without. 

A  fine  broad  river  always,  but  in  some  parts  much 
wider  than  in  others :  and  then  there  is  usually  a 
green  island  covered  with  trees,  dividing  it  into  two 
streams.  Occasionally  we  stop  for  a  few  minutes, 
maybe  to  take  in  wood,  maybe  for  passengers,  at 
some  small  town  or  village  (I  ought  to  say  city, 
every  place  is  a  city  here) ;  but  the  banks  are  for 
the  most  part  deep  solitudes,  overgrown  with  trees, 
which,  hereabouts,  are  already  in  leaf  and  very 
green.  For  miles,  and  miles,  and  miles,  these  soli- 
tudes are  unbroken  by  any  sign  of  human  life  or 
trace  of  human  footstep ;  nor  is  anything  seen  to 
move  about  them  but  the  blue  jay,  whose  color  is  so 
bright,  and  yet  so  delicate,  that  it  looks  like  a  flying 
flower.  At  lengthened  intervals  a  log-cabin,  with 
its  little  space  of  cleared  land  about  it,  nestles  under 
a  rising  ground,  and  sends  its  thread  of  blue  smoke 
curling  up  into  the  sky.  It  stands  in  the  corner  of 
the  poor  field  of  wheat,  which  is  full  of  great 
unsightly  stumps,  like  earthy  butchers'  blocks. 
Sometimes  the  ground  is  only  just  now  cleared :  the 
felled  trees  lying  yet  upon  the  soil :  and  the  log- 
house  only  this  morning  begun.  As  we  pass  this 
clearing,  the  settler  leans  upon  his  axe  or  hammer, 
and  looks  wistfully  at  the  people  from  the  world. 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  233 

The  children  creep  out  of  the  temporary  hut,  which 
is  like  a  gypsy  tent  upon  the  ground,  and  clap  their 
hands  and  shout.  The  dog  only  glances  round  at 
us ;  and  then  looks  up  into  his  master's  face  again, 
as  if  he  were  rendered  uneasy  by  any  suspension  of 
the  common  business,  and  had  nothing  more  to  do 
with  pleasures.  And  still  there  is  the  same  eter- 
nal foreground.  The  river  has  washed  away  its 
banks,  and  stately  trees  have  fallen  down  into  the 
stream.  Some  have  been  there  so  long,  that  they 
are  mere  dry,  grizzly  skeletons.  Some  have  just 
toppled  over,  and,  having  earth  yet  about  their 
roots,  are  bathing  their  green  heads  in  the  river, 
and  putting  forth  new  shoots  and  branches.  Some 
are  almost  sliding  down  as  you  look  at  them.  And 
some  were  drowned  so  long  ago,  that  their  bleached 
arms  start  out  from  the  middle  of  the  current,  and 
seem  to  try  to  grasp  the  boat,  and  drag  it  under 
water. 

Through  such  a  scene  as  this  the  unwieldy  ma- 
chine takes  its  hoarse,  sullen  way :  venting,  at  every 
revolution  of  the  paddles,  a  loud  high-pressure 
blast ;  enough,  one  would  think,  to  waken  sip  the 
host  of  Indians  who  lie  buried  in  a  great  mound 
yonder :  so  old,  that  mighty  oaks  and  other  forest 
trees  have  struck  their  roots  into  its  earth ;  and  so 
high,  that  it  is  a  hill  even  among  the  hills  that 
Nature  planted  round  it.  The  very  river,  as  though 
it  shared  one's  feelings  of  compassion  for  the  ex- 
tinct tribes  who  lived  so  pleasantly  here,  in  their 
blessed  ignorance  of  white  existence,  hundreds  of 
years  ago,  steals  out  of  its  way  to  ripple  near  this 
mound :  and  there  are  few  places  where  the  Ohio 
sparkles  more  brightly  than  in  the  Big  Grave  Creek. 


234  AMERICAN  NOTES 

All  this  I  see  as  I  sit  in  the  little  stern-gallery 
mentioned  just  now.  Evening  slowly  steals  upon 
the  landscape,  and  changes  it  before  me,  when  we 
stop  to  set  some  emigrants  ashore. 

Five  men,  as  many  women,  and  a  little  girl.  All 
their  worldly  goods  are  a  bag,  a  large  chest,  and 
an  old  chair:  one  old,  high-backed,  rush-bottomed 
chair  :  a  solitary  settler  in  itself.  They  are  rowed 
ashore  in  the  boat,  while  the  vessel  stands  a  little 
off  awaiting  its  return,  the  water  being  shallow. 
They  are  landed  at  the  foot  of  a  high  bank,  on  the 
summit  of  which  are  a  few  log-cabins,  attainable 
only  by  a  long  winding  path.  It  is  growing  dusk : 
but  the  sun  is  very  red,  and  shines  in  the  water,  and 
on  some  of  the  tree-tops,  like  fire. 

The  men  get  out  of  the  boat  first ;  help  out  the 
women ;  take  out  the  bag,  the  chest,  the  chair ;  bid 
the  rowers  "  good-by ; "  and  shove  the  boat  off  for 
them.  At  the  first  plash  of  the  oars  in  the  water, 
the  oldest  woman  of  the  party  sits  down  in  the  old 
chair,  close  to  the  water's  edge,  without  speaking  a 
word.  None  of  the  others  sit  down,  though  the 
chest  is  large  enough  for  many  seats.  They  all 
stand  where  they  landed,  as  if  stricken  into  stone ; 
and  look  after  the  boat.  So  they  remain,  quite  still 
and  silent :  the  old  woman  and  her  old  chair  in  the 
centre ;  the  bag  and  chest  upon  the  shore,  without 
anybody  heeding  them:  all  eyes  fixed  upon  the 
boat.  It  comes  alongside,  is  made  fast,  the  men 
jump  on  board,  the  engine  is  put  in  motion,  and  we 
go  hoarsely  on  again.  There  they  stand  yet,  with- 
out the  motion  of  a  hand.  I  can  see  them,  through 
my  glass,  when,  in  the  distance  and  increasing 
darkness,  they  are  mere  specks  to  the  eye :  linger- 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  235 

ing  there  still :  the  old  woman  in  the  old  chair,  and 
all  the  rest  about  her :  not  stirring  in  the  least 
degree.  And  thus  I  slowly  lose  them. 

The  night  is  dark,  and  we  proceed  within  the 
shadow  of  the  wooded  bank,  which  makes  it  darker. 
After  gliding  past  the  sombre  maze  of  boughs  for  a 
long  time,  we  come  upon  an  open  space  where  the 
tall  trees  are  burning.  The  shape  of  every  branch 
and  twig  is  expressed  in  a  deep  red  glow,  and  as 
the  light  wind  stirs  and  ruffles  it,  they  seem  to 
vegetate  in  fire.  It  is  such  a  sight  as  we  read  of  in 
legends  of  enchanted  forests  :  saving  that  it  is  sad 
to  see  these  noble  works  wasting  away  so  awfully, 
alone ;  and  to  think  how  many  years  must  come 
and  go  before  the  magic  that  created  them  will  rear 
their  like  upon  this  ground  again.  But  the  time 
will  come :  and  when,  in  their  changed  ashes,  the 
growth  of  centuries  unborn  has  struck  its  roots,  the 
restless  men  of  distant  ages  will  repair  to  these 
again  unpeopled  solitudes ;  and  their  fellows,  in 
cities  far  away,  that  slumber  now,  perhaps,  beneath 
the  rolling  sea,  will  read,  in  language  strange  to  any 
ears  in  being  now,  but  very  old  to  them,  of  prime- 
val forests  where  the  axe  was  never  heard,  and 
where  the  jungled  ground  was  never  trodden  by  a 
human  foot. 

Midnight  and  sleep  blot  out  these  scenes  and 
thoughts:  and  when  the  morning  shines  again,  it 
gilds  the  housetops  of  a  lively  city,  before  whose 
broad  paved  wharf  the  boat  is  moored  :  with  other 
boats,  and  flags,  and  moving  wheels,  and  hum  of 
men  around  it ;  as  though  there  were  not  a  solitary 
or  silent  rood  of  ground  within  the  compass  of  a 
thousand  miles. 


236  AMERICAN  NOTES 

Cincinnati  is  a  beautiful  city ;  cheerful,  thriving, 
and  animated.  I  have  not  often  seen  a  place  that 
commends  itself  so  favorably  and  pleasantly  to  a 
stranger  at  the  first  glance  as  this  does :  with  its 
clean  houses  of  red  and  white,  its  well-paved  roads, 
and  footways  of  bright  tile.  Nor  does  it  become 
less  prepossessing  on  a  closer  acquaintance.  The 
streets  are  broad  and  airy,  the  shops  extremely  good, 
the  private  residences  remarkable  for  their  elegance 
and  neatness.  There  is  something  of  invention  and 
fancy  in  the  varying  styles  of  these  latter  erections, 
which,  after  the  dull  company  of  the  steamboat,  is 
perfectly  delightful,  as  conveying  an  assurance  that 
there  are  such  qualities  still  in  existence.  The  dis- 
position to  ornament  these  pretty  villas,  and  render 
them  attractive,  leads  to  the  culture  of  trees  and 
flowers,  and  the  laying  out  of  well-kept  gardens,  the 
sight  of  which,  to  those  who  walk  along  the  streets, 
is  inexpressibly  refreshing  and  agreeable.  I  was 
quite  charmed  with  the  appearance  of  the  town,  and 
its  adjoining  suburb  of  Mount  Auburn ;  from  which 
the  city,  lying  in  an  amphitheatre  of  hills,  forms  a 
picture  of  remarkable  beauty,  and  is  seen  to  great 
advantage. 

There  happened  to  be  a  great  Temperance  Con- 
vention held  here  on  the  day  after  our  arrival ;  and 
as  the  order  of  march  brought  the  procession  under 
the  windows  of  the  hotel  in  which  we  lodged,  when 
they  started  in  the  morning,  I  had  a  good  opportu- 
nity of  seeing  it.  It  comprised  several  thousand 
men  ;  the  members  of  various  "  Washington  Auxil- 
iary Temperance  Societies;"  and  was  marshalled 
by  officers  on  horseback,  who  cantered  briskly  up 
and  down  the  line,  with  scarfs  and  ribbons  of  bright 


FOB  GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  237 

colors  fluttering  out  behind :  them  gayly.  There 
were  bands  of  music,  too,  and  banners  out  of  num- 
ber: and  it  was  a  fresh,  holiday-looking  concourse 
altogether. 

I  was  particularly  pleased  to  see  the  Irishmen, 
who  formed  a  distinct  society  among  themselves, 
and  mustered  very  strong  with  their  green  scarfs ; 
carrying  their  national  Harp,  and  their  Portrait  of 
Father  Mathew,  high  above  the  people's  heads. 
They  looked  as  jolly  and  good-humored  as  ever ; 
and  working  (here)  the  hardest  for  their  living,  and 
doing  any  kind  of  sturdy  labor  that  came  in  their 
way,  were  the  most  independent  fellows  there,  I 
thought. 

The  banners  were  very  well  painted,  and  flaunted 
down  the  street  famously.  There  was  the  smiting 
of  the  rock,  and  the  gushing  forth  of  the  waters ; 
and  there  was  a  temperate  man  with  "  considerable 
of  a  hatchet "  (as  the  standard-bearer  would  probably 
have  said),  aiming  a  deadly  blow  at  a  serpent  which 
was  apparently  about  to  spring  upon  him  from  the 
top  of  a  barrel  of  spirits.  But  the  chief  feature  of 
this  part  of  the  show  was  a  huge  allegorical  device, 
borne  among  the  ship  carpenters,  on  one  side 
whereof  the  steamboat  Alcohol  was  represented 
bursting  her  boiler  and  exploding  with  a  great  crash, 
while  upon  the  other,  the  good  ship  Temperance 
sailed  away  with  a  fair  wind,  to  the  heart's  content 
of  the  captain,  crew,  and  passengers. 

After  going  round  the  town,  the  procession  re- 
paired to  a  certain  appointed  place,  where,  as  the 
printed  programme  set  forth,  it  would  be  received 
by  the  children  of  the  different  free  schools,  "  sing- 
ing Temperance  Songs."  I  was  prevented  from 


238  AMERICAN  NOTES 

getting  there  in  time  to  hear  these  Little  Warblers, 
or  to  report  upon  this  novel  kind  of  vocal  entertain- 
ment :  novel,  at  least,  to  me :  but  I  found,  in  a  large 
open  space,  each  society  gathered  round  its  own 
banners,  and  listening  in  silent  attention  to  its  own 
orator.  The  speeches,  judging  from  the  little  I 
could  hear  of  them,  were  certainly  adapted  to  the 
occasion,  as  having  that  degree  of  relationship  to 
cold  water  which  wet  blankets  may  claim :  but  the 
main  thing  was  the  conduct  and  appearance  of  the 
audience  throughout  the  day,  and  that  was  admirable 
and  full  of  promise. 

Cincinnati  is  honorably  famous  for  its  free  schools, 
of  which  it  has  so  many  that  no  person's  child 
among  its  population  can,  by  possibility,  want  the 
means  of  education,  which  are  extended,  upon  an 
average,  to  four  thousand  pupils  annually.  I  was 
only  present  in  one  of  these  establishments  during 
the  hours  of  instruction.  In  the  boys'  department, 
which  was  full  of  little  urchins  (varying  in  their 
ages,  I  should  say,  from  six  years  old  to  ten  or 
twelve),  the  master  offered  to  institute  an  extempo- 
rary examination  of  the  pupils  in  algebra;  a  pro- 
posal which,  as  I  was  by  no  means  confident  of  my 
ability  to  detect  mistakes  in  that  science,  I  declined 
with  some  alarm.  In  the  girl's  school,  reading  was 
proposed ;  and,  as  I  felt  tolerably  equal  to  that  art, 
I  expressed  my  willingness  to  hear  a  class.  Books 
were  distributed  accordingly,  and  some  half-dozen 
girls  relieved  each  other  in  reading  paragraphs  from 
English  history.  But  it  seemed  to  be  a  dry  compila- 
tion, infinitely  above  their  powers ;  and  when  they 
had  blundered  through  three  or  four  dreary  pass- 
ages concerning  the  treaty  of  Amiens,  and  other 


FOR  GENERAL   CIRCULATION.  239 

thrilling  topics  of  the  same  nature  (obviously  with- 
out comprehending  ten  words),  I  expressed  myself 
quite  satisfied.  It  is  very  possible  that  they  only 
mounted  to  this  exalted  stave  in  the  Ladder  of 
Learning  for  the  astonishment  of  a  visitor;  and 
that  at  other  times  they  keep  upon  its  lower  rounds ; 
but  I  should  have  been  much  better  pleased  and 
satisfied  if  I  had  heard  them  exercised  in  simpler 
lessons  which  they  understood. 

As  in  every  other  place  I  visited,  the  Judges  here 
were  gentlemen  of  high  character  and  attainments. 
I  was  in  one  of  the  courts  for  a  few  minutes,  and 
found  it  like  those  to  which  I  have  already  referred. 
A  nuisance  cause  was  trying;  there  were  not  many 
spectators;  and  the  witnesses,  counsel,  and  jury 
formed  a  sort  of  family  circle,  sufficiently  jocose 
and  snug. 

The  society  with  which  I  mingled  was  intelligent, 
courteous,  and  agreeable.  The  inhabitants  of  Cin- 
cinnati are  proud  of  their  city,  as  one  of  the  most 
interesting  in  America :  and  with  good  reason :  for 
beautiful  and  thriving  as  it  is  now,  and  containing, 
as  it  does,  a  population  of  fifty  thousand  souls,  but 
two  and  fifty  years  have  passed  away  'since  the 
ground  on  which  it  stands  (bought  at  that  time  for 
a  few  dollars)  was  a  wild  wood,  and  its  citizens  were 
but  a  handful  of  dwellers  in  scattered  log-huts  upon 
the  river's  shore. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

FROM  CINCINNATI  TO  LOUISVILLE  IN  ANOTHER  WEST- 
ERN STEAMBOAT;   AND  FROM   LOUISVILLE  TO  ST. 

LOUIS   IN   ANOTHER.  —  ST.   LOUIS. 

LEAVING  Cincinnati  at  eleven  o'clock  in  the 
forenoon,  we  embarked  for  Louisville  in  the  Pike 
steamboat,  which,  carrying  the  mails,  was  a  packet 
of  a  much  better  class  than  that  in  which  we  had 
come  from  Pittsburg.  As  this  passage  does  not 
occupy  more  than  twelve  or  thirteen  hours,  we 
arranged  to  go  ashore  that  night :  not  coveting  the 
distinction  of  sleeping  in  a  stateroom,  when  it  was 
possible  to  sleep  anywhere  else. 

There  chanced  to  be  on  board  this  boat,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  usual  dreary  crowd  of  passengers,  one 
Pitchlynn,  a  chief  of  the  Choctaw  tribe  of  Indians, 
who  sent  in  his  card  to  me,  and  with  whom  I  had 
the  pleasure  of  a  long  conversation. 

He  spoke  English  perfectly  well,  though  he  had 
not  begun  to  learn  the  language,  he  told  me,  until 
he  was  a  young  man  grown.  He  had  read  many 
books ;  and  Scott's  poetry  appeared  to  have  left  a 
strong  impression  on  his  mind :  especially  the  open- 
ing of  The  Lady  of  the  Lake,  and  the  great  battle 
scene  in  Marmion,  in  which,  no  doubt  from  the  con- 
240 


AMERICAN  NOTES.  241 

geniality  of  the  subjects  to  his  own  pursuits  and 
tastes,  he  had  great  interest  and  delight.  He  ap- 
peared to  understand  correctly  all  he  had  read  ;  and 
whatever  fiction  had  enlisted  his  sympathy  in  its 
belief,  had  done  so  keenly  and  earnestly.  I  might 
almost  say  fiercely.  He  was  dressed  in  our  ordi- 
nary every-day  costume,  which  hung  about  his  fine 
figure  loosely,  and  with  indifferent  grace.  On  my 
telling  him  that  I  regretted  not  to  see  him  in  his 
own  attire,  he  threw  up  his  right  arm  for  a  moment, 
as  though  he  were  brandishing  some  heavy  weapon, 
and  answered,  as  he  let  it  fall  again,  that  his  race 
were  losing  many  things  besides  their  dress,  and 
would  soon  be  seen  upon  the  earth  no  more :  but  he 
wore  it  at  home,  he  added  proudly. 

He  told  me  that  he  had  been  away  from  his 
home,  west  of  the  Mississippi,  seventeen  months  : 
and  was  now  returning.  He  had  been  chiefly  at 
Washington  on  some  negotiations  pending  between 
his  Tribe  and  the  Government:  which  were  not 
settled  yet  (he  said  in  a  melancholy  way),  and  he 
feared  never  would  be  :  for  what  could  a  few  poor 
Indians  do  against  such  well-skilled  men  of  business 
as  the  whites  ?  He  had  no  love  for  Washington ; 
tired  of  towns  and  cities  very  soon  ;  and  longed  for 
the  Forest  and  the  Prairie. 

I  asked  him  what  he  thought  of  Congress  ?  He 
answered,  with  a  smile,  that  it  wanted  dignity  in  an 
Indian's  eyes. 

He  would  very  much  like,  he  said,  to  see  England 
before  he  died ;  and  spoke  with  much  interest  about 
the  great  things  to  be  seen  there.  When  I  told 
him  of  that  chamber  in  the  British  Museum  wherein 
are  preserved  household  memorials  of  a  race  that 
16 


242  AMERICAN  NOTES 

ceased  to  be,  thousands  of  years  ago,  he  was  very, 
attentive,  and  it  was  not  hard  to  see  that  he  had  a 
reference  in  his  mind  to  the  gradual  fading  away  of 
his  own  people. 

This  led  us  to  speak  of  Mr.  Catlin's  gallery, 
which  he  praised  highly :  observing  that  his  own 
portrait  was  among  the  collection,  and  that  all  the 
likenesses  were  "elegant."  Mr.  Cooper,  he  said, 
had  painted  the  Ked  Man  well ;  and  so  would  I,  he 
knew,  if  I  would  go  home  with  him  and  hunt  buffa- 
loes, which  he  was  quite  anxious  I  should  do.  When 
I  told  him  that,  supposing  I  went,  I  should  not  be 
very  likely  to  damage  the  buffaloes  much,  he  took 
it  as  a  great  joke  and  laughed  heartily. 

He  was  a  remarkably  handsome  man ;  some  years 
past  forty,  I  should  judge ;  with  long  black  hair,  an 
aquiline  nose,  broad  cheek  bones,  a  sunburnt  com- 
plexion, and  a  very  bright,  keen,  dark,  and  piercing 
eye.  There  were  but  twenty  thousand  of  the  Choc- 
taws  left,  he  said,  and  their  number  was  decreasing 
every  day.  A  few  of  his  brother  chiefs  had  been 
obliged  to  become  civilized,  and  to  make  themselves 
acquainted  with  what  the  whites  knew,  for  it  was 
their  only  chance  of  existence.  But  they  were  not 
many ;  and  the  rest  were  as  they  always  had  been. 
He  dwelt  on  this :  and  said  several  times  that  un- 
less they  tried  to  assimilate  themselves  to  their 
conquerors,  they  must  be  swept  away  before  the 
strides  of  civilized  society. 

When  we  shook  hands  at  parting,  I  told  him  he 
must  come  to  England,  as  he  longed  to  see  the  land 
so  much :  that  I  should  hope  to  see  him  there  one 
day :  and  that  I  could  promise  him  he  would  be 
well  received  and  kindly  treated.  He  was  evidently 


FOR   GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  243 

pleased  by  this  assurance,  though  he  rejoined,  with 
a  good-humored  smile  and  an  arch  shake  of  his  head, 
that  the  English  used  to  be  very  fond  of  the  Ked 
Men  when  they  wanted  their  help,  but  had  not 
cared  much  for  them  since. 

He  took  his  leave ;  as  stately  and  complete  a 
gentleman  of  Nature's  making  as  ever  I  beheld; 
and  moved  among  the  people  in  the  boat,  another 
kind  of  being.  He  sent  me  a  lithographed  portrait 
of  himself  soon  afterwards ;  very  like,  though 
scarcely  handsome  enough ;  which  I  have  carefully 
preserved  in  memory  of  our  brief  acquaintance. 

There  was  nothing  very  interesting  in  the  scenery 
of  this  day's  journey,  which  brought  us  at  midnight 
to  Louisville.  We  slept  at  the  Gait  House;  a 
splendid  hotel ;  and  were  as  handsomely  lodged  as 
though  we  had  been  in  Paris,  rather  than  hundreds 
of  miles  beyond  the  Alleghanies. 

The  city  presenting  no  objects  of  sufficient  inter- 
est to  detain  us  on  our  way,  we  resolved  to  proceed 
next  day  by  another  steamboat,  the  Fulton,  and  to 
join  it,  about  noon,  at  a  suburb  called  Portland, 
where  it  would  be  delayed  some  time  in  passing 
through  a  canal. 

The  interval,  after  breakfast,  we  devoted  to  riding 
through  the  town,  which  is  regular  and  cheerful: 
the  streets  being  laid  out  at  right  angles,  and 
planted  with  young  trees.  The  buildings  are 
smoky  and  blackened,  from  the  use  of  bituminous 
coal,  but  an  Englishman  is  well  used  to  that  appear- 
ance, and  indisposed  to  quarrel  with  it.  There  did 
not  appear  to  be  much  business  stirring  ;  and  some 
unfinished  buildings  and  improvements  seemed  to 
intimate  that  the  city  had  been  overbuilt  in  the 


244  AMERICAN  NOTES 

ardor  of  "going  ahead,"  and  was  suffering  under 
the  reaction  consequent  upon  such  feverish  forcing 
of  its  powers. 

On  our  way  to  Portland  we  passed  a  "Magis- 
trate's Office,"  which  amused  me,  as  looking  far 
more  like  a  dame  school  than  any  police  establish- 
ment: for  this  awful  Institution  was  nothing  but  a 
little,  lazy,  good-for-nothing  front  parlor,  open  to 
the  street ;  wherein  two  or  three  figures  (I  presume 
the  magistrate  and  his  myrmidons)  were  basking  in 
the  sunshine,  the  very  effigies  of  languor  and  repose. 
It  was  a  perfect  picture  of  Justice  retired  from 
business  for  want  of  customers;  her  sword  and 
scales  sold  off ;  napping  comfortably  with  her  legs 
upon  the  table. 

Here,  as  elsewhere  in  these  parts,  the  road  was 
perfectly  alive  with  pigs  of  all  ages;  lying  about 
in  every  direction,  fast  asleep ;  or  grunting  along  in 
quest  of  hidden  dainties.  I  had  always  a  sneaking 
kindness  for  these  odd  animals,  and  found  a  con- 
stant source  of  amusement,  when  all  others  failed, 
in  watching  their  proceedings.  As  we  were  riding 
along  this  morning,  I  observed  a  little  incident  be- 
tween two  youthful  pigs,  which  was  so  very  human 
as  to  be  inexpressibly  comical  and  grotesque  at 
the  time,  though,  I  dare  say,  in  telling,  it  is  tame 
enough. 

One  young  gentleman  (a  very  delicate  porker 
with  several  straws  sticking  about  his  nose,  be- 
tokening recent  investigations  in  a  dunghill)  was 
walking  deliberately  on,  profoundly  thinking,  when 
suddenly  his  brother,  who  was  lying  in  a  miry  hole 
unseen  by  him,  rose  up  immediately  before  his 
startled  eyes,  ghostly  with  damp  mud.  Never  was 


FOR  GENEKAL  CIKCULATION.  245 

pig's  whole  mass  of  blood  so  turned.  He  started 
back  at  least  three  feet,  gazed  for  a  moment,  and 
then  shot  off  as  hard  as  he  could  go  :  his  excessively 
little  tail  vibrating  with  speed  and  terror  like  a 
distracted  pendulum.  But,  before  he  had  gone 
very  far,  he  began  to  reason  with  himself  as  to  the 
nature  of  this  frightful  appearance ;  and  as  he  rea- 
soned, he  relaxed  his  speed  by  gradual  degrees; 
until  at  last  he  stopped,  and  faced  about.  There 
was  his  brother,  with  the  mud  upon  him  glazing  in 
the  sun,  yet  staring  out  of  the  very  same  hole,  per- 
fectly amazed  at  his  proceedings !  He  was  no 
sooner  assured  of  this ;  and  he  assured  himself  so 
carefully  that  one  may  almost  say  he  shaded  his 
eyes  with  his  hand  to  see  the  better ;  than  he  came 
back  at  a  round  trot,  pounced  upon  him,  and  sum- 
marily took  off  a  piece  of  his  tail ;  as  a  caution  to 
him  to  be  careful  what  he  was  about  for  the  future, 
and  never  to  play  tricks  with  his  family  any  more. 

We  found  the  steamboat  in  the  canal,  waiting  for 
the  slow  process  of  getting  through  the  lock,  and 
went  on  board,  where  we  shortly  afterwards  had  a 
new  kind  of  visitor  in  the  person  of  a  certain  Ken- 
tucky Giant  whose  name  is  Porter,  and  who  is  of 
the  moderate  height  of  seven  feet  eight  inches  in 
his  stockings. 

There  never  was  a  race  of  people  who  so  com- 
pletely gave  the  lie  to  history  as  these  giants,  or 
whom  all  the  chroniclers  have  so  cruelly  libelled. 
Instead  of  roaring  and  ravaging  aboiit  the  world, 
constantly  catering  for  their  cannibal  larders,  and 
perpetually  going  to  market  in  an  unlawful  manner, 
they  are  the  meekest  people  in  any  man's  acquaint- 
ance: rather  inclining  to  milk  and  vegetable  diet, 


246  AMERICAN  NOTES 

and  bearing  anything  for  a  quiet  life.  So  decidedly 
are  amiability  and  mildness  their  characteristics, 
that  I  confess  I  look  upon  that  youth  who  distin- 
guished himself  by  the  slaughter  of  these  inoffensive 
persons  as  a  false-hearted  brigand,  who,  pretending 
to  philanthropic  motives,  was  secretly  influenced 
only  by  the  wealth  stored  up  within  their  castles, 
and  the  hope  of  plunder.  And  I  lean  the  more  to 
this  opinion  from  finding  that  even  the  historian  of 
those  exploits,  with  all  his  partiality  for  his  hero, 
is  fain  to  admit  that  the  slaughtered  monsters  in 
question  were  of  a  very  innocent  and  simple  turn ; 
extremely  guileless  and  ready  of  belief ;  lending  a 
credulous  ear  to  the  most  improbable  tales ;  suffer- 
ing themselves  to  be  easily  entrapped  into  pits ;  and 
even  (as  in  the  case  of  the  'Welsh  Giant),  with  an 
excess  of  the  hospitable  politeness  of  a  landlord, 
ripping  themselves  open,  rather  than  hint  at  the 
possibility  of  their  guests  being  versed  in  the  vaga- 
bond arts  of  sleight-of-hand  and  hocus-pocus. 

The  Kentucky  Giant  was  but  another  illustration 
of  the  truth  of  this  position.  He  had  a  weakness 
in  the  region  of  the  knees,  and  a  trustfulness  in 
his  long  face,  which  appealed  even  to  five  feet  nine 
for  encouragement  and  support.  He  was  only 
twenty-five  years  old,  he  said,  and  had  grown 
recently,  for  it  had  been  found  necessary  to  make 
an  addition  to  the  legs  of  his  inexpressibles.  At 
fifteen  he  was  a  short  boy,  and  in  those  days  his 
English  father  and  his  Irish  mother  had  rather 
snubbed  him,  as  being  too  small  of  stature  to  sus- 
tain the  credit  of  the  family.  He  added  that  his 
health  had  not  been  good,  though  it  was  better  now ; 
but  short  people  are  not  wanting  who  whisper  that 
he  drinks  too  hard. 


FOR   GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  247 

I  understand  he  drives  a  hackney  coach,  though 
how  he  does  it,  unless  he  stands  on  the  feot-board 
behind,  and  lies  along  the  roof  upon  his  chest,  with 
his  chin  in  the  box,  it  would  be  difficult  to  compre- 
hend. He  brought  his  gun  with  him,  as  a  curiosity. 
Christened  "  The  Little  Eifle,"  and  displayed  out- 
side a  shop-window,  it  would  make  the  fortune  of 
any  retail  business  in  Holborn.  When  he  had  shown 
himself  and  talked  a  little  while,  he  withdrew  with 
his  pocket  instrument,  and  went  bobbing  down  the 
cabin,  among  men  of  six  feet  high  and  upwards, 
like  a  lighthouse  walking  among  lamp-posts. 

Within  a  few  minutes  afterwards  we  were  out  of 
the  canal,  and  in  the  Ohio  Kiver  again. 

The  arrangements  of  the  boat  were  like  those  of 
the  Messenger,  and  the  passengers  were  of  the  same 
order  of  people.  We  fed  at  the  same  times,  on  the 
same  kind  of  viands,  in  the  same  dull  manner,  and 
with  the  same  observances.  The  company  appeared 
to  be  oppressed  by  the  same  tremendous  conceal- 
ments, and  had  as  little  capacity  of  enjoyment  or 
light-heartedness.  I  never  in  my  life  did  see  such 
listless,  heavy  dulness  as  brooded  over  these  meals : 
the  very  recollection  of  it  weighs  me  down,  and 
makes  me,  for  the  moment,  wretched.  Reading 
and  writing  on  my  knee,  in  our  little  cabin,  I  really 
dreaded  the  coming  of  the  hour  that  summoned  us 
to  table  ;  and  was  as  glad  to  escape  from  it  again  as 
if  it  had  been  a  penance  or  a  punishment.  Healthy 
cheerfulness  and  good  spirits  forming  a  part  of  the 
banquet,  I  could  soak  my  crusts  in  the  fountain 
with  Le  Sage's  strolling  player,  and  revel  in  their 
glad  enjoyment;  but  sitting  down  with  so  many 
fellow-animals  to  ward  off  thirst  and  hunger  as  a 


248  AMERICAN  NOTES 

business ;  to  empty  each  creature  his  Yahoo's  trough 
as  quickly  as  he  can,  and  then  slink  sullenly  away ; 
to  have  these  social  sacraments  stripped  of  every- 
thing but  the  mere  greedy  satisfaction  of  the  natu- 
ral cravings ;  goes  so  against  the  grain  with  me, 
that  I  seriously  believe  the  recollection  of  these 
funeral  feasts  will  be  a  waking  nightmare  to  me  all 
my  life. 

There  was  some  relief  in  this  boat,  too,  which 
there  had  not  been  in  the  other,  for  the  captain  (a 
blunt,  good-natured  fellow)  had  his  handsome  wife 
with  him,  who  was  disposed  to  be  lively  and  agree- 
able, as  were  a  few  other  lady  passengers  who  had 
their  seats  about  us  at  the  same  end  of  the  table. 
But  nothing  could  have  made  head  against  the 
depressing  influence  of  the  general  body.  There 
was  a  magnetism  of  dulness  in  them  which  would 
have  beaten  down  the  most  facetious  companion 
that  the  earth  ever  knew.  A  jest  would  have  been 
a  crime,  and  a  smile  would  have  faded  into  a  grin- 
ning horror.  Such  deadly  leaden  people ;  such  sys- 
tematic, plodding,  weary,  insupportable  heaviness: 
such  a  mass  of  animated  indigestion  in  respect  of 
all  that  was  genial,  jovial,  frank,  social,  or  hearty ; 
never,  sure,  was  brought  together  elsewhere  since 
the  world  began. 

Nor  was  the  scenery,  as  we  approached  the  junc- 
tion of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  Elvers,  at  all  inspir- 
iting in  its  influence.  The  trees  were  stunted  in 
their  growth ;  the  banks  were  low  and  flat ;  the 
settlements  and  log-cabins  fewer  in  number :  their 
inhabitants  more  wan  and  wretched  than  any  we 
had  encountered  yet.  No  songs  of  birds  were  in 
the  air,  no  pleasant  scents,  no  moving  lights  and 


FOR   GENERAL   CIRCULATION.  249 

shadows  from  swift-passing  clouds.  Hour  after 
hour,  the  changeless  glare  of  the  hot,  unwinking 
sky  shone  upon  the  same  monotonous  objects.  Hour 
after  hour,  the  river  rolled  along  as  wearily  and 
slowly  as  the  time  itself. 

At  length,  upon  the  morning  of  the  third  day,  we 
arrived  at  a  spot  so  much  more  desolate  than  any 
we  had  yet  beheld,  that  the  forlornest  places  we 
had  passed  were,  in  comparison  with  it,  full  of 
interest.  At  the  junction  of  the  two  rivers,  on 
ground  so  flat  and  low  and  marshy,  that  at  certain 
seasons  of  the  year  it  is  inundated  to  the  housetops, 
lies  a  breeding-place  of  fever,  ague,  and  death; 
vaunted  in  England  as  a  mine  of  Golden  Hope,  and 
speculated  in,  on  the  faith  of  monstrous  representa- 
tions, to  many  people's  ruin.  A  dismal  swamp,  on 
which  the  half-built  houses  rot  away :  cleared  here 
and  there  for  the  space  of  a  few  yards ;  and  teem- 
ing, then,  with  rank,  unwholesome  vegetation,  in. 
whose  baleful  shade  the  wretched  wanderers  who 
are  tempted  hither  droop,  and  die,  and  lay  their 
bones ;  the  hateful  Mississippi  circling  and  eddying 
before  it,  and  turning  off  upon  its  southern  course, 
a  slimy  monster  hideous  to  behold ;  a  hotbed  of 
disease,  an  ugly  sepulchre,  a  grave  uncheered  by 
any  gleam  of  promise :  a  place  without  one  single 
quality,  in  earth  or  air  or  water,  to  commend  it: 
such  is  this  dismal  Cairo. 

But  what  words  shall  describe  the  Mississippi, 
great  father  of  rivers,  who  (praise  be  to  Heaven ! ) 
has  no  young  children  like  him  ?  An  enormous 
ditch,  sometimes  two  or  three  miles  wide,  running 
liquid  mud,  six  miles  an  hour :  its  strong  and  frothy 
current  choked  and  obstructed  everywhere  by  huge 


250  AMERICAN  NOTES 

logs  and  whole  forest  trees  :  now  twining  themselves 
together  in  great  rafts,  from  the  interstices  of  which 
a  sedgy,  lazy  foam  works  up,  to  float  upon  the  water's 
top :  now  rolling  past  like  monstrous  bodies,  their 
tangled  roots  showing  like  matted  hair ;  now  glan- 
cing singly  by  like  giant  leeches  ;  and  now  writhing 
round  and  round  in  the  vortex  of  some  small  whirl- 
pool like  wounded  snakes.  The  banks  low,  the 
trees  dwarfish,  the  marshes  swarming  with  frogs, 
the  wretched  cabins  few  and  far  apart,  their  inmates 
hollow-cheeked  and  pale,  the  weather  very  hot, 
mosquitoes  penetrating  into  every  crack  and  crev- 
ice of  the  boat,  mud  and  slime  on  everything: 
nothing  pleasant  in  its  aspect,  but  the  harmless 
lightning  which  flickers  every  night  upon  the  dark 
horizon. 

For  two  days  we  toiled  up  this  foul  stream,  strik- 
ing constantly  against  the  floating  timber,  or  stop- 
ping to  avoid  those  more  dangerous  obstacles,  the 
snags,  or  sawyers,  which  are  the  hidden  trunks  of 
trees  that  have  their  roots  below  the  tide.  When 
the  nights  are  very  dark,  the  lookout  stationed  in 
the  head  of  the  boat  knows,  by  the  ripple  of  the 
water,  if  any  great  impediment  be  near  at  hand, 
and  rings  a  bell  beside  him,  which  is  the  signal  for 
the  engine  to  be  stopped ;  but  always  in  the  night 
this  bell  has  work  to  do,  and,  after  eveiy  ring, 
there  comes  a  blow  which  renders  it  no  easy  matter 
to  remain  in  bed. 

The  decline  of  day  here  was  very  gorgeous ;  tinge- 
ing  the  firmament  deeply  with  red  and  gold,  up  to 
th'e  very  keystone  of  the  arch  above  us.  As  the 
sun  went  down  behind  the  bank,  the  slightest 
blades  of  grass  upon  it  seemed  to  become  as  dis- 


FOR   GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  251 

tinctly  visible  as  the  arteries  in  the  skeleton  of  a 
leaf,  and  when,  as  it  slowly  sank,  the  red  and 
golden  bars  upon  the  water  grew  dimmer,  and 
dimmer  yet,  as  if  they  were  sinking  too;  and  all 
the  glowing  colors  of  departing  day  paled,  inch  by 
inch,  before  the  sombre  night ;  the  scene  became  a 
thousand  times  more  lonesome  and  more  dreary  than 
before,  and  all  its  influences  darkened  with  the  sky. 

We  drank  the  muddy  water  of  this  river  while 
we  were  upon  it.  It  is  considered  wholesome  by 
the  natives,  and  is  something  more  opaque  than 
gruel.  I  have  seen  water  like  it  at  the  Filter  shops, 
but  nowhere  else. 

On  the  fourth  night  after  leaving  Louisville  we 
reached  St.  Louis,  and  here  I  witnessed  the  conclu- 
sion of  an  incident,  trifling  enough  in  itself,  but 
very  pleasant  to  see,  which  had  interested  me 
during  the  whole  journey. 

There  was  a  little  woman  on  board,  with  a  little 
baby ;  and  both  little  woman  and  little  child  were 
cheerful,  good-looking,  bright-eyed,  and  fair  to  see. 
The  little  woman  had  been  passing  a  long  time  with 
her  sick  mother  in  New  York,  and  had  left  her  home 
in  St.  Louis  in  that  condition  in  which  ladies  who 
truly  love  their  lords  desire  to  be.  The  baby  was 
born  in  her  mother's  house ;  and  she  had  not  seen 
her  husband  (to  whom  she  was  now  returning)  for 
twelve  months :  having  left  him  a  month  or  two 
after  their  marriage. 

Well,  to  be  sure  there  never  was  a  little  woman 
so  full  of  hope,  and  tenderness,  and  love,  and  anx- 
iety as  this  little  woman  was :  and  all  day  long  she 
wondered  whether  "He"  would  be  at  the  wharf; 
and  whether  "  He  "  had  got  her  letter ;  and  whether, 


252  AMERICAN  NOTES 

if  she  sent  the  baby  ashore  by  somebody  else, 
"He"  would  know  it,  meeting  it  in  the  street: 
which,  seeing  that  he  had  never  set  eyes  upon  it  in 
his  life,  was  not  very  likely  in  the  abstract,  but 
was  probable  enough  to  the  young  mother.  She 
was  such  an  artless  little  creature ;  and  was  in  such 
a  sunny,  beaming,  hopeful  state;  and  let  out  all 
this  matter,  clinging  close  about  her  heart,  so 
freely ;  that  all  the  other  lady  passengers  entered 
into  the  spirit  of  it  as  much  as  she ;  and  the  captain, 
(who  heard  all  about  it  from  his  wife)  was  won- 
drous sly,  I  promise  you :  inquiring,  every  time  we 
met  at  table,  as  in  forgetfulness,  whether  she  ex- 
pected anybody  to  meet  her  at  St.  Louis,  and 
whether  she  would  want  to  go  ashore  the  night  we 
reached  it  (but  he  supposed  she  wouldn't),  and 
cutting  many  other  dry  jokes  of  that  nature. 
There  was  one  little,  weazen,  dried-apple-faced  old 
woman,  who  took  occasion  to  doubt  the  constancy 
of  husbands  in  such  circumstances  of  bereavement ; 
and  there  was  another  lady  (with  a  lapdog)  old 
enough  to  moralize  on  the  lightness  of  human 
affections,  and  yet  not  so  old  that  she  could  help 
nursing  the  baby  now  and  then,  or  laughing  with 
the  rest  when  the  little  woman  called  it  by  its 
father's  name,  and  asked  it  all  manner  of  fantastic 
questions  concerning  him  in  the  joy  of  her  heart. 

It  was  something  of  a  blow  to  the  little  woman, 
that  when  we  were  within  twenty  miles  of  our 
destination,  it  became  clearly  necessary  to  put  this 
baby  t®  bed.  But  she  got  over  it  with  the  same 
good-humor;  tied  a  handkerchief  round  her  head; 
and  came  out  into  the  little  gallery  with  the  rest. 
Then,  such  an  oracle  as  she  became  in  reference  to 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  253 

the  localities !  and  such  facetiousness  as  was  dis- 
played by  the  married  ladies !  and  such  sympathy 
as  was  shown  by  the  single  ones  !  and  such  peals  of 
laughter  as  the  little  woman  herself  (who  would 
just  as  soon  have  cried)  greeted  every  jest  with  ! 

At  last  there  were  the  lights  of  St.  Louis,  and 
here  was  the  wharf,  and  those  were  the  steps :  and 
the  little  woman,  covering  her  face  with  her  hands, 
and  laughing  (or  seeming  to  laugh)  more  than  ever, 
ran  into  her  own  cabin,  and  shut  herself  up.  I 
have  no  doubt  that,  in  the  charming  inconsistency 
of  such  excitement,  she  stopped  her  ears,  lest  she 
should  hear  "  Him  "  asking  for  her :  but  I  did  not 
see  her  do  it. 

Then  a  great  crowd  of  people  rushed  on  board, 
though  the  boat  was  not  yet  made  fast,  but  was 
wandering  about,  among  the  other  boats,  to  find  a 
landing-place;  and  everybody  looked  for  the  hus- 
band :  and  nobody  saw  him :  when,  in  the  midst  of 
us  all — Heaven  knows  how  she  ever  got  there  — 
there  was  the  little  woman  clinging  with  both  arms 
tight  round  the  neck  of  a  fine,  good-looking,  sturdy 
young  fellow !  and,  in  a  moment  afterwards,  there 
she  was  again,  actually  clapping  her  little  hands  for 
joy,  as  she  dragged  him  through  the  small  door  of 
her  small  cabin,  to  look  at  the  baby  as  he  lay 
asleep ! 

We  went  to  a  large  hotel,  called  the  Planter's 
House:  built  like  an  English  hospital,  with  long 
passages  and  bare  walls,  and  skylights  above  the 
room-doors  for  the  free  circulation  of  air.  There 
were  a  great  many  boarders  in  it;  and  as  many 
lights  sparkled  and  glistened  from  the  windows 
down  into  the  street  below,  when  we  drove  up,  as  if 


254  AMERICAN   NOTES 

it  had  been  illuminated  on  some  occasion  of  rejoi- 
cing. It  is  an  excellent  house,  and  the  proprietors 
have  most  bountiful  notions  of  providing  the  crea- 
ture comforts.  Dining  alone  with  my  wife  in  our 
own  room  one  day,  I  counted  fourteen  dishes  on  the 
table  at  once. 

In  the  old  French  portion  of  the  town  the  thor- 
oughfares are  narrow  and  crooked,  and  some  of  the 
houses  are  very  quaint  and  picturesque :  being  built 
of  wood,  with  tumble-down  galleries  before  the 
windows,  approachable  by  stairs,  or  rather  ladders, 
from  the  street.  There  are  queer  little  barbers' 
shops,  and  drinking-houses  too,  in  this  quarter ;  and 
abundance  of  crazy  old  tenements  with  blinking 
casements,  such  as  may  be  seen  in  Flanders.  Some 
of  these  ancient  habitations,  with  high  garret  gable 
windows  perking  into  the  roofs,  have  a  kind  of 
French  shrug  about  them ;  and,  being  lop-sided  with 
age,  appear  to  hold  their  heads  askew  besides,  as  if 
they  were  grimacing  in  astonishment  at  the  Ameri- 
can Improvements. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  these  consist  of 
wharfs  and  warehouses,  and  new  buildings  in  all 
directions ;  and  of  a  great  many  vast  plans  which 
are  still  "progressing."  Already,  however,  some 
very  good  houses,  broad  streets,  and  marble-fronted 
shops  have  gone  so  far  ahead  as  to  be  in  a  state  of 
completion ;  and  the  town  bids  fair,  in  a  few  years, 
to  improve  considerably :  though  it  is  not  likely 
ever  to  vie,  in  point  of  elegance  or  beauty,  with 
Cincinnati. 

The  Roman  Catholic  religion,  introduced  here  by 
the  early  French  settlers,  prevails  extensively. 
Among  the  public  institutions  are  a  Jesuit  College ; 


FOR   GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  255 

a  convent  for  "  the  Ladies  of  the  Sacred  Heart ; " 
and  a  large  chapel  attached  to  the  college,  which 
was  in  course  of  erection  at  the  time  of  my  visit, 
and  was  intended  to  be  consecrated  on  the  second 
of  December  in  the  next  year.  The  architect  of 
this  building  is  one  of  the  reverend  fathers  of  the 
school,  and  the  works  proceed  under  his  sole  direc- 
tion. The  organ  will  be  sent  from  Belgium. 

In  addition  to  these  establishments,  there  is  a 
Roman  Catholic  cathedral,  dedicated  to  St.  Francis 
Xavier ;  and  a  hospital,  founded  by  the  munificence 
of  a  deceased  resident,  who  was  a  member  of  that 
church.  It  also  sends  missionaries  from  hence 
among  the  Indian  tribes. 

The  Unitarian  church  is  represented,  in  this 
remote  place,  as  in  most  other  parts  of  America,  by 
a  gentleman  of  great  worth  and  excellence.  The 
poor  have  good  reason  to  remember  and  bless  it ;  for 
it  befriends  them,  and  aids  the  cause  of  rational 
education,  without  any  sectarian  or  selfish  views. 
It  is  liberal  in  all  its  actions ;  of  kind  construction ; 
and  of  wide  benevolence. 

There  are  three  free  schools  already  erected  and 
in  full  operation  in  this  city.  A  fourth  is  building, 
and  will  soon  be  opened. 

No  man  ever  admits  the  unhealthiness  of  the 
place  he  dwells  in  (unless  he  is  going  away  from  it), 
and  I  shall  therefore,  I  have  no  doubt,  be  at  issue 
with  the  inhabitants  of  St.  Louis  in  questioning  the 
perfect  salubrity  of  its  climate,  and  in  hinting  that 
I  think  it  must  rather  dispose  to  fever  in  the  sum- 
mer and  autumnal  seasons.  Just  adding,  that  it  is 
very  hot,  lies  among  great  rivers,  and  has  vast  tracts 
of  undrained  swampy  land  around  it,  I  leave  the 
reader  to  form  his  own  opinion. 


256  AMERICAN  NOTES. 

As  I  had  a  great  desire  to  see  a  Prairie  before 
turning  back  from  the  furthest  point  of  my  wander- 
ings ;  and  as  some  gentlemen  of  the  town  had,  in 
their  hospitable  consideration,  an  equal  desire  to 
gratify  me ;  a  day  was  fixed,  before  my  departure, 
for  an  expedition  to  the  Looking-Glass  Prairie, 
which  is  within  thirty  miles  of  the  town.  Deeming 
it  possible  that  my  readers  may  not  object  to  know 
what  kind  of  thing  such  a  gypsy  party  may  be  at 
that  distance  from  home,  and  among  what  sort  of 
objects  it  moves,  I  will  describe  the  jaunt  in  another 
chapter. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

A   JAUNT    TO    THE    LOOKING-GLASS    PRAIRIE   AND 
BACK. 

I  MAT  premise  that  the  word  Prairie  is  variously 
pronounced  paraaer,  parearer,  and  paroarer.  The 
latter  mode  of  pronunciation  is,  perhaps,  the  most 
in  favor. 

We  were  fourteen  in  all,  and  all  young  men : 
indeed,  it  is  a  singular  though  very  natural  feature 
in  the  society  of  these  distant  settlements,  that  it 
is  mainly  composed  of  adventurous  persons  in  the 
prime  of  life,  and  has  very  few  gray  heads  among 
it.  There  were  no  ladies :  the  trip  being  a  fatiguing 
one :  and  we  were  to  start  at  five  o'clock  in  the 
morning  punctually. 

I  was  called  at  four,  that  I  might  be  certain  of 
keeping  nobody  waiting ;  and  having  got  some  bread 
and  milk  for  breakfast,  threw  up  the  window  and 
looked  down  into  the  street,  expecting  to  see  the 
whole  party  busily  astir,  and  great  preparations 
going  on  below.  But,  as  everything  was  very  quiet, 
and  the  street  presented  that  hopeless  aspect  with 
which  five  o'clock  in  the  morning  is  familiar  else- 
where, I  deemed  it  as  well  to  go  to  bed  again,  and 
went  accordingly. 

17  257 


258  AMERICAN  NOTES 

I  woke  again  at  seven  o'clock,  and  by  that  time 
the  party  had  assembled,  and  were  gathered  round, 
one  light  carriage,  with  a  very  stout  axle-tree ;  one 
something  on  wheels  like  an  amateur  carrier's  cart ; 
one  double  phaeton  of  great  antiquity  and  unearthly 
construction ;  one  gig  with  a  great  hole  in  its  back, 
and  a  broken  head ;  and  one  rider  on  horseback, 
who  was  to  go  on  before.  I  got  into  the  first  coach 
with  three  companions  ;  the  rest  bestowed  them- 
selves in  the  other  vehicles ;  two  large  baskets  were 
made  fast  to  the  lightest ;  two  large  stone  jars  in 
wicker  cases,  technically  known  as  demijohns,  were 
consigned  to  the  "least  rowdy"  of  the  party  for 
safe  keeping ;  and  the  procession  moved  off  to  the 
ferry-boat,  in  which  it  was  to  cross  the  river  bodily, 
men,  horses,  carriages,  and  all,  as  the  manner  in 
these  parts  is. 

We  got  over  the  river  in  due  course,  and  mustered 
again  before  a  little  wooden  box  on  wheels,  hove 
down  all  aslant  in  a  morass,  with  "MERCHANT 
TAILOR  "  painted  in  very  large  letters  over  the  door. 
Having  settled  the  order  of  proceeding  and  the  road 
to  be  taken,  we  started  off  once  more,  and  began  to 
make  our  way  through  an  ill-favored  Black  Hollow, 
called,  less  expressively,  the  American  Bottom. 

The  previous  day  had  been  —  not  to  say  hot,  for 
the  term  is  weak  and  lukewarm  in  its  power  of  con- 
veying an  idea  of  the  temperature.  The  town  had 
been  on  fire ;  in  a  blaze.  But  at  night  it  had  come 
on  to  rain  in  torrents,  and  all  night  long  it  had 
rained  without  cessation.  We  had  a  pair  of  very 
strong  horses,  but  travelled  at  the  rate  of  little  more 
than  a  couple  of  miles  an  hour,  through  one  unbroken 
slough  of  black  mud  and  water.  It  had  no  variety 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  259 

but  in  depth.  Now  it  was  only  half  over  the  wheels, 
now  it  hid  the  axle-tree,  and  now  the  coach  sank 
down  in  it  almost  to  the  windows.  The  air  re- 
sounded in  all  directions  with  the  loud  chirping  of 
the  frogs,  who,  with  the  pigs  (a  coarse,  ugly  breed, 
as  unwholesome-looking  as  though  they  were  the 
spontaneous  growth  of  the  country),  had  the  whole 
scene  to  themselves.  Here  and  there  we  passed  a 
log-hut ;  but  the  wretched  cabins  were  wide  apart 
and  thinly  scattered,  for  though  the  soil  is  very  rich 
in  this  place,  few  people  can  exist  in  such  a  deadly 
atmosphere.  On  either  side  of  the  track,  if  it 
deserve  the  name,  was  the  thick  "  bush ; "  and  every- 
where was  stagnant,  slimy,  rotten,  filthy  water. 

As  it  is  the  custom  in  these  parts  to  give  a  horse 
a  gallon  or  so  of  cold  water  whenever  he  is  in  a 
foam  with  heat,  we  halted  for  that  purpose  at  a  log 
inn  in  the  wood,  far  removed  from  any  other  resi- 
dence. It  consisted  of  one  room,  bare-roofed  and 
bare-walled  of  course,  with  a  loft  above.  The 
ministering  priest  was  a  swarthy  young  savage  in  a 
shirt  of  cotton  print  like  bed-furniture,  and  a  pair 
of  ragged  trousers.  There  were  a  couple  of  young 
boys,  too,  nearly  naked,  lying  idly  by  the  well ;  and 
they,  and  he,  and  the  traveller  at  the  inn,  turned  out 
to  look  at  us. 

The  traveller  was  an  old  man,  with  a  gray,  grisly 
beard  two  inches  long,  a  shaggy  moustache  of  the 
same  hue,  and  enormous  eyebrows ;  which  almost 
obscured  his  lazy,  semi-drunken  glance,  as  he  stood 
regarding  us  with  folded  arms:  poising  himself 
alternately  upon  his  toes  and  heels.  On  being  ad- 
dressed by  one  of  the  party,  he  drew  nearer,  and 
said,  rubbing  his  chin  (which  scraped  under  his 


260  AMERICAN  NOTES 

horny  hand  like  fresh  gravel  beneath  a  nailed  shoe), 
that  he  was  from  Delaware,  and  had  lately  bought 
a  farm  "down  there,"  pointing  into  one  of  the 
marshes  where  the  stunted  trees  were  thickest. 
He  was  "  going,"  he  added,  to  St.  Louis,  to  fetch  his 
family,  whom  he  had  left  behind ;  but  he  seemed  in 
no  great  hurry  to  bring  on  these  incumbrances,  for 
when  we  moved  away,  he  loitered  back  into  the 
cabin,  and  was  plainly  bent  on  stopping  there  so 
long  as  his  money  lasted.  He  was  a  great  politician, 
of  course,  and  explained  his  opinions  at  some  length 
to  one  of  our  company ;  but  I  only  remember  that 
he  concluded  with  two  sentiments,  one  of  which 
was,  Somebody  forever ;  and  the  other,  Blast  every- 
body else  !  which  is  by  no  means  a  bad  abstract  of 
the  general  creed  in  these  matters. 

When  the  horses  were  swollen  out  to  about  twice 
their  natural  dimensions  (there  seems  to  be  an  idea 
here  that  this  kind  of  inflation  improves  their 
going),  we  went  forward  again,  through  mud  and 
mire,  and  damp,  and  festering  heat,  and  brake  and 
bush,  attended  always  by  the  music  of  the  frogs 
and  pigs,  until  nearly  noon,  when  we  halted  at  a 
place  called  Belleville. 

Belleville  was  a  small  collection  of  wooden  houses, 
huddled  together  in  the  very  heart  of  the  bush  and 
swamp.  Many  of  them  had  singularly  bright  doors 
of  red  and  yellow;  for  the  place  had  been  lately 
visited  by  a  travelling  painter,  "  who  got  along,"  as 
I  was  told,  "by  eating  his  way."  The  Criminal 
Court  was  sitting,  and  was  at  that  moment  trying 
some  criminals  for  horse-stealing:  with  whom  it 
would  most  likely  go  hard :  for  live-stock  of  all 
kinds,  being  necessarily  very  much  exposed  in  the 


FOE   GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  261 

woods,  is  held  by  the  community  in  rather  higher 
value  than  human  life ;  and,  for  this  reason,  juries 
generally  make  a  point  of  finding  all  men  indicted 
for  cattle-stealing,  guilty,  whether  or  no. 

The  horses  belonging  to  the  bar,  the  judge,  and 
witnesses,  were  tied  to  temporary  racks  set  up 
roughly  in  the  road ;  by  which  is  to  be  understood 
a  forest  path,  nearly  knee  deep  in  mud  and  slime. 

There  was  an  hotel  in  this  place,  which,  like  all 
hotels  in  America,  had  its  large  dining-room  for  the 
public  table.  It  was  an  odd,  shambling,  low-roofed 
outhouse,  half  cow-shed  and  half  kitchen,  with  a 
coarse  brown  canvas  table-cloth,  and  tin  sconces 
stuck  against  the  walls,  to  hold  candles  at  supper- 
time.  The  horseman  had  gone  forward  to  have 
coffee  and  some  eatables  prepared,  and  they  were 
by  this  time  nearly  ready.  He  had  ordered  "  wheat 
bread  and  chicken  fixings,"  in  preference  to  "corn 
bread  and  common  doings."  The  latter  kind  of 
refection  includes  only  pork  and  bacon.  The  former 
comprehends  broiled  ham,  sausages,  veal  cutlets, 
steaks,  and  such  other  viands  of  that  nature  as  may 
be  supposed,  by  a  tolerably  wide  poetical  construc- 
tion, to  "  fix  "  a  chicken  comfortably  in  the  digestive 
organs  of  any  lady  or  gentleman. 

On  one  of  the  door-posts  at  this  inn  was  a  tin 
plate,  whereon  was  inscribed,  in  characters  of  gold, 
"  Doctor  Crocus ; "  and  on  a  sheet  of  paper,  pasted 
up  by  the  side  of  this  plate,  was  a  written  an- 
nouncement that  Doctor  Crocus  would  that  evening 
deliver  a  lecture  on  Phrenology  for  the  benefit  of 
the  Belleville  public;  at  a  charge  for  admission 
of  so  much  a  head. 

Straying  upstairs  during  the  preparation  of  the 


262  AMERICAN  NOTES 

chicken  fixings,  I  happened  to  pass  the  Doctor's 
chamber ;  and  as  the  door  stood  wide  open,  and  the 
room  was  empty,  I  made  bold  to  peep  in. 

It  was  a  bare,  unfurnished,  comfortless  room, 
with  an  unframed  portrait  hanging  up  at  the  head 
of  the  bed ;  a  likeness,  I  take  it,  of  the  Doctor,  for 
the  forehead  was  fully  displayed,  and  great  stress 
was  laid  by  the  artist  upon  its  phrenological  devel- 
opments. The  bed  itself  was  covered  with  an  old 
patchwork  counterpane.  The  room  was  destitute 
of  carpet  or  of  curtain.  There  was  a  damp  fire- 
place without  any  stove,  full  of  wood  ashes  ;  a  chair, 
and  a  very  small  table ;  and  on  the  last-named  piece 
of  furniture  was  displayed,  in  grand  array,  the 
Doctor's  library,  consisting  of  some  half-dozen 
greasy  old  books. 

Now,  it  certainly  looked  about  the  last  apartment 
on  the  whole  earth  out  of  which  any  man  would  be 
likely  to  get  anything  to  do  him  good.  But  the 
door,  as  I  have  said,  stood  coaxingly  open,  and 
plainly  said,  in  conjunction  with  the  chair,  the  por- 
trait, the  table,  and  the  books,  "Walk  in,  gentle- 
men, walk  in !  Don't  be  ill,  gentlemen,  when  you 
may  be  well  in  no  time.  Doctor  Crocus  is  here, 
gentlemen,  the  celebrated  Doctor  Crocus !  Doctor 
Crocus  has  come  all  this  way  to  cure  you,  gentle- 
men. If  you  haven't  heard  of  Doctor  Crocus,  it's 
your  fault,  gentlemen,  who  live  a  little  way  out  of 
the  world  here :  not  Doctor  Crocus's.  Walk  in, 
gentlemen,  walk  in ! " 

In  the  passage  below,  when  I  went  downstairs 
again,  was  Doctor  Crocus  himself.  A  crowd  had 
flocked  in  from  the  Court  House,  and  a  voice  from 
among  them  called  out  to  the  landlord,  "  Colonel ! 
introduce  Doctor  Crocus." 


FOR   GENERAL   CIRCULATION.  263 

"Mr.  Dickens,"  says  the  colonel,  "Doctor 
Crocus." 

Upon  which  Doctor  Crocus,  who  is  a  tall,  fine- 
looking  Scotchman,  but  rather  fierce  and  warlike  in 
appearance  for  a  professor  of  the  peaceful  art  of 
healing,  bursts  out  of  the  concourse  with  his  right 
arm  extended,  and  his  chest  thrown  out  as  far  as  it 
will  possibly  come,  and  says, — 

"  Your  countryman,  sir ! " 

Whereupon  Doctor  Crocus  and  I  shake  hands; 
and  Doctor  Crocus  looks  as  if  I  didn't  by  any  means 
realize  his  expectations,  which  in  a  linen  blouse, 
and  a  great  straw  hat  with  a  green  ribbon,  and  no 
gloves,  and  my  face  and  nose  profusely  ornamented 
with  the  stings  of  mosquitoes  and  the  bites  of  bugs, 
it  is  very  likely  I  did  not. 

"  Long  in  these  parts,  sir  ?  "  says  I. 

"  Three  or  four  months,  sir,"  says  the  Doctor. 

"  Do  you  think  of  soon  returning  to  the  old  coun- 
try, sir  ?  "  says  I. 

Doctor  Crocus  makes  no  verbal  answer,  but  gives 
me  an  imploring  look,  which  says  so  plainly,  "  Will 
you  ask  me  that  again  a  little  louder,  if  you 
please  ?  "  that  I  repeat  the  question. 

"Think  of  soon  returning  to  the  old  country, 
sir  ?  "  repeats  the  Doctor. 

"  To  the  old  country,  sir,"  I  rejoin. 

Doctor  Crocus  looks  round  upon  the  crowd  to 
observe  the  effect  he  produces,  rubs  his  hands,  and 
says,  in  a  very  loud  voice,  — 

"Not  yet  awhile,  sir,  not  yet.  You  won't  catch 
me  at  that  just  yet,  sir.  I  am  a  little  too  fond  of 
freedom  for  that,  sir.  Ha,  ha !  It's  not  so  easy  for 
a  man  to  tear  himself  from  a  free  country  such  as 


264  AMERICAN  NOTES 

this  is,  sir.  Ha,  ha !  No,  no !  Ha,  ha !  None  of 
that  till  one's  obliged  to  do  it,  sir.  No,  no ! " 

As  Doctor  Crocus  says  these  latter  words,  he 
shakes  his  head  knowingly,  and  laughs  again. 
Many  of  the  bystanders  shake  their  heads  in  concert 
with  the  Doctor,  and  laugh  too,  and  look  at  each 
other  as  much  as  to  say,  "  A  pretty  bright  and  first- 
rate  sort  of  chap  is  Crocus ! "  and,  unless  I  am  very 
much  mistaken,  a  good  many  people  went  to  the 
lecture  that  night  who  never  thought  about  phrenol- 
ogy, or  about  Doctor  Crocus  either,  in  all  their 
lives  before. 

From  Belleville  we  went  on,  through  the  same 
desolate  kind  of  waste,  and  constantly  attended, 
without  the  interval  of  a  moment,  by  the  same 
music ;  until,  at  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  we 
halted  once  more  at  a  village  called  Lebanon  to 
inflate  the  horses  again,  and  give  them  some  corn 
besides :  of  which  they  stood  much  in  need.  Pend- 
ing this  ceremony,  I  walked  into  the  village,  where 
I  met  a  full-sized  dwelling-house  coming  downhill 
at  a  round  trot,  drawn  by  a  score  or  more  of  oxen. 

The  public-house  was  so  very  clean  and  good  a 
one,  that  the  managers  of  the  jaunt  resolved  to 
return  to  it,  and  put  up  there  for  the  night,  if  possi- 
ble. This  course  decided  on,  and  the  horses  being 
well  refreshed,  we  again  pushed  forward,  and  came 
upon  the  Prairie  at  sunset. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  say  why,  or  how  —  though 
it  was  possibly  from  having  heard  and  read  so  much 
about  it  —  but  the  effect  on  me  was  disappointment. 
Looking  towards  the  setting  sun,  there  lay, 
stretched  out  before  my  view,  a  vast  expanse  of 
level  ground  j  unbroken,  save  by  one  thin  line  of 


FOR   GENERAL   CIRCULATION.  265 

trees,  which  scarcely  amounted  to  a  scratch  upon 
the  great  blank;  until  it  met  the  glowing  sky, 
wherein  it  seemed  to  dip  :  mingling  with  its  rich 
colors,  and  mellowing  in  its  distant  blue.  There  it 
lay,  a  tranquil  sea  or  lake  without  water,  if  such  a 
simile  be  admissible,  with  the  day  going  down  upon 
it :  a  few  birds  wheeling  here  and  there :  and  soli- 
tude and  silence  reigning  paramount  around.  But 
the  grass  was  not  yet  high ;  there  were  bare  black 
patches  on  the  ground;  and  the  few  wild  flowers 
that  the  eye  could  see  were  poor  and  scanty.  Great 
as  the  picture  was,  its  very  flatness  and  extent, 
which  left  nothing  to  the  imagination,  tamed  it 
down  and  cramped  its  interest.  I  felt  little  of  that 
sense  of  freedom  and  exhilaration  which  a  Scottish 
heath  inspires,  or  even  our  English  downs  awaken. 
It  was  lonely  and  wild,  but  oppressive  in  its  barren 
monotony.  I  felt  that,  in  traversing  the  Prairies, 
I  could  never  abandon  myself  to  the  scene,  forget- 
ful of  all  else ;  as  I  should  do  instinctively,  were 
the  heather  underneath  my  feet,  or  an  iron-bound 
coast  beyond ;  but  should  often  glance  towards  the 
distant  and  frequently  receding  line  of  the  horizon, 
and  wish  it  gained  and  passed.  It  is  not  a  scene  to 
be  forgotten,  but  it  is  scarcely  one,  I  think  (at  all 
events,  as  I  saw  it),  to  remember  with  much  pleas- 
ure, or  to  covet  the  looking  on  again  in  after  life. 

We  encamped  near  a  solitary  log-house,  for  the 
sake  of  its  water,  and  dined  upon  the  plain.  The 
baskets  contained  roast  fowls,  buffalo's  tongue  (an 
exquisite  dainty,  by  the  way),  ham,  bread,  cheese, 
and  butter,  biscuits,  champagne,  sherry ;  'lemon 
and  sugar  for  punch ;  and  abundance  of  rough 
ice.  The  meal  was  delicious,  and  the  entertainers 


266  AMERICAN   NOTES 

were  the  soul  of  kindness  and  good-humor.  I  have 
often  recalled  that  cheerful  party  to  my  pleasant 
recollection  since,  and  shall  not  easily  forget,  in 
junketings  nearer  home  with  friends  of  older  date, 
my  boon  companions  on  the  Prairie. 

Returning  to  Lebanon  that  night,  we  lay  at  the 
little  inn  at  which  we  had  halted  in  the  afternoon. 
In  point  of  cleanliness  and  comfort  it  would  have 
suffered  by  no  comparison  with  any  village  alehouse 
of  a  homely  kind  in  England. 

Rising  at  five  o'clock  next  morning,  I  took  a  walk 
about  the  village :  none  of  the  houses  were  strolling 
about  to-day,  but  it  was  early  for  them  yet,  perhaps : 
and  then  amused  myself  by  lounging  in  a  kind  of 
farmyard  behind  the  tavern,  of  which  the  leading 
features  were,  a  strange  jumble  of  rough  sheds  for 
stables ;  a  rude  colonnade,  built  as  a  cool  place  of 
summer  resort;  a  deep  well;  a  great  earthen  mound 
for  keeping  vegetables  in,  in  winter-time ;  and  a 
pigeon-house,  whose  little  apertures  looked,  as  they 
do  in  all  pigeon-houses,  very  much  too  small  for  the 
admission  of  the  plump  and  swelling-breasted  birds 
who  were  strutting  about  it,  though  they  tried  to 
get  in  never  so  hard.  That  interest  exhausted,  I 
took  a  survey  of  the  inn's  two  parlors,  which  were 
decorated  with  colored  prints  of  Washington  and 
President  Madison,  and  of  a  white-faced  young  lady 
(much  speckled  by  the  flies),  who  held  up  her  gold 
neck-chain  for  the  admiration  of  the  spectator,  and 
informed  all  admiring  comers  that  she  was  "Just 
Seventeen  : "  although  I  should  have  thought  her 
older.  In  the  best  room  were  two  oil  portraits  of 
the  kit-cat  size,  representing  the  landlord  and  his 
infant  son ;  both  looking  as  bold  as  lions,  and  star- 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  267 

ing  out  of  the  canvas  with  an  intensity  that  would 
have  been  cheap  at  any  price.  They  were  painted, 
I  think,  by  the  artist  who  had  touched  up  the  Belle- 
ville doors  with  red  and  gold ;  for  I  seemed  to  rec- 
ognize his  style  immediately. 

After  breakfast  we  started  to  return  by  a  different 
way  from  that  which  we  had  taken  yesterday,  and 
coming  up  at  ten  o'clock  with  an  encampment  of 
German  emigrants  carrying  their  goods  in  carts,  who 
had  made  a  rousing  fire  which  they  were  just  quit- 
ting, stopped  there  to  refresh.  And  very  pleasant 
the  fire  was ;  for,  hot  though  it  had  been  yesterday, 
it  was  quite  cold  to-day,  and  the  wind  blew  keenly. 
Looming  in  the  distance,  as  we  rode  along,  was 
another  of  the  ancient  Indian  burial-places,  called 
the  Monks'  Mound ;  in  memory  of  a  body  of  fanat- 
ics of  the  order  of  La  Trappe,  who  founded  a  deso- 
late convent  there  many  years  ago,  when  there  were 
no  settlers  within  a  thousand  miles,  and  were  all 
swept  off  by  the  pernicious  climate:  in  which 
lamentable  fatality  few  rational  people  will  suppose, 
perhaps,  that  society  experienced  any  very  severe 
deprivation. 

The  track  of  to-day  had  the  same  features  as  the 
track  of  yesterday.  There  was  the  swamp,  the 
bush,  the  perpetual  chorus  of  frogs,  the  rank  un- 
seemly growth,  the  unwholesome  steaming  earth. 
Here  and  there,  and  frequently  too,  we  encountered 
a  solitary  broken-down  wagon,  full  of  some  new 
settler's  goods.  It  was  a  pitiful  sight  to  see  one  of 
these  vehicles  deep  in  the  mire ;  the  axle-tree  broken ; 
the  wheel  lying  idly  by  its  side;  the  man  gone 
miles  away,  to  look  for  assistance;  the  woman 
seated  among  their  wandering  household  gods,  with 


268  AMERICAN  NOTES. 

a  baby  at  her  breast,  a  picture  of  forlorn,  dejected 
patience ;  the  team  of  oxen  crouching  down  mourn- 
fully in  the  mud,  and  breathing  forth  such  clouds 
of  vapor  from  their  mouths  and  nostrils,  that  all 
the  damp  mist  and  fog  around  seemed  to  have  come 
direct  from  them. 

In  due  time  we  mustered  once  again  before  the 
merchant  tailor's,  and,  having  done  so,  crossed  over 
to  the  city  in  the  ferry-boat :  passing,  on  the  way, 
a  spot  called  Bloody  Island,  the  duelling-ground  of 
St.  Louis,  and  so  designated  in  honor  of  the  last 
fatal  combat  fought  there,  which  was  with  pistols, 
breast  to  breast.  Both  combatants  fell  dead  upon 
the  ground ;  and  possibly  some  rational  people  may 
think  of  them,  as  of  the  gloomy  madmen  on  the 
Monks'  Mound,  that  they  were  no  great  loss  to  the 
community. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

RETURN  TO  CINCINNATI.  —  A  STAGE-COACH  RIDE 
FROM  THAT  CITY  TO  COLUMBUS,  AND  THENCE  TO 
SANDUSKY.  —  SO,  BY  LAKE  ERIE,  TO  THE  FALLS 
OF  NIAGARA. 

As  I  had  a  desire  to  travel  through  the  interior 
of  the  State  of  Ohio,  and  to  "  strike  the  lakes,"  as 
the  phrase  is,  at  a  small  town  called  Sandusky,  to 
which  that  route  would  conduct  us  on  our  way  to 
Niagara,  we  had  to  return  from  St.  Louis  by  the 
way  we  had  come,  and  to  retrace  our  former  track 
as  far  as  Cincinnati. 

The  day  on  which  we  were  to  take  leave  of  St. 
Louis  being  very  fine ;  and  the  steamboat,  which 
was  to  have  started  I  don't  know  how  early  in  the 
morning,  postponing,  for  the  third  or  fourth  time, 
her  departure  until  the  afternoon ;  we  rode  forward 
to  an  old  French  village  on  the  river,  called  prop- 
erly Carondelet,  and  nicknamed  Vide  Poche,  and 
arranged  that  the  packet  should  call  for  us  there. 

The  place  consisted  of  a  few  poor  cottages  and 
two  or  three  public-houses  ;  the  state  of  whose  lard- 
ers certainly  seemed  to  justify  the  second  designa- 
tion of  the  village,  for  there  was  nothing  to  eat  in 
any  of  them.  At  length,  however,  by  going  back 
269 


270  AMERICAN  NOTES 

some  half  a  mile  or  so,  we  found  a  solitary  house 
where  ham  and  coffee  were  procurable ;  and  there 
we  tarried  to  await  the  advent  of  the  boat,  which 
would  come  in  sight  from  the  green  before  the 
door,  a  long  way  off. 

It  was  a  neat,  unpretending  village  tavern,  and 
we  took  our  repast  in  a  quaint  little  room  with  a 
bed  in  it,  decorated  with  some  old  oil-paintings, 
which  in  their  time  had  probably  done  duty  in  a 
Catholic  chapel  or  monastery.  The  fare  was  very 
good,  and  served  with  great  cleanliness.  The  house 
was  kept  by  a  characteristic  old  couple,  with  whom 
we  had  a  long  talk,  and  who  were  perhaps  a  very 
good  sample  of  that  kind  of  people  in  the  "West. 

The  landlord  was  a  dry,  tough,  hard-faced  old  fel- 
low (not  so  very  old  either,  for  he  was  but  just 
turned  sixty,  I  should  think),  who  had  been  out 
with  the  militia  in  the  last  war  with  England,  and 
had  seen  all  kinds  of  service  —  except  a  battle  ; 
and  he  had  been  very  near  seeing  that,  he  added : 
very  near.  He  had  all  his  life  been  restless  and 
locomotive,  with  an  irresistible  desire  for  change ; 
and  was  still  the  son  of  his  old  self :  for,  if  he  had 
nothing  to  keep  him  at  home,  he  said  (slightly 
jerking  his  hat  and  his  thumb  towards  the  window 
of  the  room  in  which  the  old  lady  sat,  as  we  stood 
talking  in  front  of  the  house),  he  would  clean  up 
his  musket,  and  be  off  to  Texas  to-morrow  morning. 
He  was  one  of  the  very  many  descendants  of  Cain 
proper  to  this  continent,  who  seem  destined  from 
their  birth  to  serve  as  pioneers  in  the  great  human 
army  :  who  gladly  go  on  from  year  to  year  extend- 
ing its  outposts,  and  leaving  home  after  home  be- 
hind them ;  and  die  at  last,  utterly  regardless  of 


FOR  GENERAL   CIRCULATION.  271 

their  graves  being  left  thousands  of  miles  behind, 
by  the  wandering  generation  who  succeed. 

His  wife  was  a  domesticated,  kind-hearted  old 
soul,  who  had  come  with  him  "  from  the  queen  city 
of  the  world,"  which,  it  seemed,  was  Philadelphia; 
but  had  no  love  for  this  "Western  country,  and, 
indeed,  had  little  reason  to  bear  it  any ;  having  seen 
her  children,  one  by  one,  die  here  of  fever,  in  the 
full  prime  and  beauty  of  their  youth.  Her  heart 
was  sore,  she  said,  to  think  of  them ;  and  to  talk  on 
this  theme,  even  to  strangers,  in  that  blighted  place, 
so  far  from  her  old  home,  eased  it  somewhat,  and 
became  a  melancholy  pleasure. 

The  boat  appearing  towards  evening,  we  bade 
adieu  to  the  poor  old  lady  and  her  vagrant  spouse, 
and,  making  for  the  nearest  landing-place,  were  soon 
on  board  the  Messenger  again,  in  our  old  cabin,  and 
steaming  down  the  Mississippi. 

If  the  coming  up  this  river,  slowly  making  head 
against  the  stream,  be  an  irksome  journey,  the 
shooting  down  it  with  the  turbid  current  is  almost 
worse ;  for  then  the  boat,  proceeding  at  the  rate  of 
twelve  or  fifteen  miles  an  hour,  has  to  force  its 
passage  through  a  labyrinth  of  floating  logs,  which, 
in  the  dark,  it  is  often  impossible  to  see  beforehand 
or  avoid.  All  that  night  the  bell  was  never  silent 
for  five  minutes  at  a  time ;  and  after  every  ring  the 
vessel  reeled  again,  sometimes  beneath  a  single 
blow,  sometimes  beneath  a  dozen  dealt  in  quick 
succession,  the  lightest  of  which  seemed  more  than 
enough  to  beat  in  her  frail  keel,  as  though  it  had 
been  pie-crust.  Looking  down  upon  the  filthy  river 
after  dark,  it  seemed  to  be  alive  with  monsters,  as 
these  black  masses  rolled  upon  the  surface,  or  came 


272  AMERICAN  NOTES 

starting  up  again,  head  first,  when  the  boat,  in 
ploughing  her  way  among  a  shoal  of  such  obstruc- 
tions, drove  a  few  among  them,  for  the  moment, 
under  water.  Sometimes  the  engine  stopped  during 
a  long  interval,  and  then  before  her  and  behind,  and 
gathering  close  about  her  on  all  sides,  were  so  many 
of  these  ill-favored  obstacles  that  she  was  fairly 
hemmed  in;  the  centre  of  a  floating  island;  and 
was  constrained  to  pause  until  they  parted  some- 
where, as  dark  clouds  will  do  before  the  wind,  and 
opened  by  degrees  a  channel  out. 

In  good  time  next  morning,  however,  we  came 
again  in  sight  of  the  detestable  morass  called  Cairo  : 
and,  stopping  there  to  take  in  wood,  lay  alongside  a 
barge,  whose  starting  timbers  scarcely  held  together. 
It  was  moored  to  the  bank,  and  on  its  side  was 
painted  "  Coffee  House ; "  that  being,  I  suppose,  the 
floating  paradise  to  which  the  people  fly  for  shelter 
when  they  lose  their  houses  for  a  month  or  two 
beneath  the  hideous  waters  of  the  Mississippi. 
But,  looking  southward  from  this  point,  we  had  the 
satisfaction  of  seeing  that  intolerable  river  dragging 
its  slimy  length  and  ugly  freight  abruptly  off 
towards  New  Orleans;  and,  passing  a  yellow  line 
which  stretched  across  the  current,  were  again  upon 
the  clear  Ohio,  never,  I  trust,  to  see  the  Mississippi 
more,  saving  in  troubled  dreams  and  nightmares. 
Leaving  it  for  the  company  of  its  sparkling  neigh- 
bor was  like  the  transition  from  pain  to  ease,  or 
the  awakening  from  a  horrible  vision  to  cheerful 
realities. 

We  arrived  at  Louisville  on  the  fourth  night,  and 
gladly  availed  ourselves  of  its  excellent  hotel. 
Next  day  we  went  on  in  the  Ben  Franklin,  a  beauti- 


FOR   GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  273 

ful  mail  steamboat,  and  reached  Cincinnati  shortly 
after  midnight.  Being  by  this  time  nearly  tired  of 
sleeping  upon  shelves,  we  had  remained  awake  to  go 
ashore  straightway ;  and,  groping  a  passage  across 
the  dark  decks  of  other  boats,  and  among  labyrinths 
of  engine  machinery  and  leaking  casks  of  molasses, 
we  reached  the  streets,  knocked  up  the  porter  at  the 
hotel  where  we  had  stayed  before,  and  were,  to  our 
great  joy,  safely  housed  soon  afterwards. 

We  rested  but  one  day  at  Cincinnati,  and  then  re- 
sumed our  journey  to  Sandusky.  As  it  comprised 
two  varieties  of  stage-coach  travelling,  which,  with 
those  I  have  already  glanced  at,  comprehend  the 
main  characteristics  of  this  mode  of  transit  in 
America,  I  will  take  the  reader  as  our  fellow-pass- 
enger, and  pledge  myself  to  perform  the  distance 
with  all  possible  despatch. 

Our  place  of  destination,  in  the  first  instance,  is 
Columbus.  It  is  distant  about  a  hundred  and 
twenty  miles  from  Cincinnati,  but  there  is  a  mac- 
adamized road  (rare  blessing !)  the  whole  way,  and 
the  rate  of  travelling  upon  it  is  six  miles  an  hour. 

We  start  at  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning,  in  a 
great  mail-coach,  whose  huge  cheeks  are  so  very 
ruddy  and  plethoric  that  it  appears  to  be  troubled 
with  a  tendency  of  blood  to  the  head.  Dropsical 
it  certainly  is,  for  it  will  hold  a  dozen  passengers 
inside.  But,  wonderful  to  add,  it  is  very  clean  and 
bright,  being  nearly  new ;  and  rattles  through  the 
streets  of  Cincinnati  gayly. 

Our  way  lies  through  a  beautiful  country,  richly 

cultivated,   and    luxuriant    in    its   promise   of    an 

abundant  harvest.    Sometimes  we  pass  a  field  where 

the  strong  bristling  stalks  of  Indian  corn  look  like 

18 


274  AMERICAN   NOTES 

a  crop  of  walking-sticks,  and  sometimes  an  enclos- 
ure where  the  green  wheat  is  springing  up  among 
a  labyrinth  of  stumps  ;  the  primitive  worm-fence  is 
universal,  and  an  ugly  thing  it  is  ;  but  the  farms 
are  neatly  kept,  and,  save  for  these  differences,  one 
might  be  travelling  just  now  in  Kent. 

We  often  stop  to  water  at  a  roadside  inn,  which 
is  always  dull  and  silent.  The  coachman  dismounts 
and  fills  his  bucket,  and  holds  it  to  the  horses' 
heads.  There  is  scarcely  ever  any  one  to  help  him ; 
there  are  seldom  any  loungers  standing  round ;  and 
never  any  stable  company  with  jokes  to  crack. 
Sometimes,  when  we  have  changed  our  team,  there 
is  a  difficulty  in  starting  again,  arising  out  of  the 
prevalent  mode  of  breaking  a  young  horse :  which 
is  to  catch  him,  harness  him  against  his  will,  and 
put  him  in  a  stage-coach  without  further  notice  :  but 
we  get  on  somehow  or  other,  after  a  great  many  kicks 
and  a  violent  struggle ;  and  jog  on  as  before  again. 

Occasionally,  when  we  stop  to  change,  some  two 
or  three  half-drunken  loafers  will  come  loitering 
out  with  their  hands  in  their  pockets,  or  will  be 
seen  kicking  their  heels  in  rocking-chairs,  or  loung- 
ing on  the  window-sill,  or  sitting  on  a  rail  within 
the  colonnade  :  they  have  not  often  anything  to 
say,  though,  either  to  us  or  to  each  other,  but  sit 
there  idly  staring  at  the  coach  and  horses.  The 
landlord  of  the  inn  is  usually  among  them,  and 
seems,  of  all  the  party,  to  be  the  least  connected 
with  the  business  of  the  house.  Indeed,  he  is,  with 
reference  to  the  tavern,  what  the  driver  is  in  rela- 
tion to  the  coach  and  passengers  :  whatever  happens 
in  his  sphere  of  action,  he  is  quite  indifferent,  and 
perfectly  easy  in  his  mind. 


FOR   GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  275 

The  frequent  change  of  coachmen  works  no 
change  or  variety  in  the  coachman's  character.  He 
is  always  dirty,  sullen,  and  taciturn.  If  he  be  capa- 
ble of  smartness  of  any  kind,  moral  or  physical,  he 
has  a  faculty  of  concealing  it  which  is  truly  marvel- 
lous. He  never  speaks  to  you  as  you  sit  beside  him 
on  the  box,  and  if  you  speak  to  him,  he  answers  (if 
at  all)  in  monosyllables.  He  points  out  nothing  on 
the  road,  and  seldom  looks  at  anything :  being,  to 
all  appearance,  thoroughly  weary  of  it,  and  of  ex- 
istence" generally.  As  to  doing  the  honors  of  his 
coach,  his  business,  as  I  have  said,  is  with  the 
horses.  The  coach  follows  because  it  is  attached  to 
them  and  goes  on  wheels :  not  because  you  are  in  it. 
Sometimes,  towards  the  end  of  a  long  stage,  he 
suddenly  breaks  out  into  a  discordant  fragment  of 
an  election  song,  but  his  face  never  sings  along  with 
him :  it  is  only  his  voice,  and  not  often  that. 

He  always  chews  and  always  spits,  and  never 
encumbers  himself  with  a  pocket-handkerchief.  The 
consequences  to  the  box  passenger,  especially  when 
the  wind  blows  towards  him,  are  not  agreeable. 

Whenever  the  coach  stops,  and  you  can  hear  the 
voices  of  the  inside  passengers ;  or  whenever  any 
bystander  addresses  them,  or  any  one  among  them ; 
or  they  address  each  other ;  you  will  hear  one  phrase 
repeated  over  and  over  and  over  again  to  the  most 
extraordinary  extent.  It  is  an  ordinary  and  unprom- 
ising phrase  enough,  being  neither  more  nor  less 
than  "  Yes,  sir ; "  but  it  is  adapted  to  every  variety 
of  circumstance,  and  fills  up  every  pause  in  the  con- 
versation. Thus : 

The  time  is  one  o'clock  at  noon.  The  scene,  a 
place  where  we  are  to  stay  to  dine  on  this  journey. 


276  AMERICAN  NOTES 

The  coach  drives  up  to  the  door  of  an  inn.  The 
day  is  warm,  and  there  are  several  idlers  lingering 
about  the  tavern,  and  waiting  for  the  public  dinner. 
Among  them  is  a  stout  gentleman  in  a  brown  hat, 
swinging  himself  to  and  fro  in  a  rocking-chair  on 
the  pavement. 

As  the  coach  stops,  a  gentleman  in  a  straw  hat 
looks  out  of  the  window. 

STRAW  HAT  (to  the  stout  gentleman  in  the  rock- 
ing-chair). I  reckon  that's  Judge  Jefferson,  ain't  it  ? 

BROWN  HAT  (still  swinging ;  speaking  very  slowly ; 
and  without  any  emotion  whatever).  Yes,  sir. 

STRAW  HAT.     Warm  weather,  Judge. 

BROWN  HAT.     Yes,  sir. 

STRAW  HAT.     There  was  a  snap  of  cold  last  week. 

BROWN  HAT.     Yes,  sir. 

STRAW  HAT.     Yes,  sir. 

A  pause,  they  look  at  each  other  very  seriously. 

STRAW  HAT.  I  calculate  you'll  have  got  through 
that  case  of  the  corporation,  Judge,  by  this  time, 
now? 

BROWN  HAT.     Yes,  sir. 

STRAW  HAT.     How  did  the  verdict  go,  sir  ? 

BROWN  HAT.     For  the  defendant,  sir. 

STRAW  HAT  (interrogatively).     Yes,  sir  ? 

BROWN  HAT  (affirmatively).     Yes,  sir. 

BOTH  (musingly,  as  each  gazes  down  the  street). 
Yes,  sir. 

Another  pause.  They  look  at  each  other  again, 
still  more  seriously  than  before. 

BROWN  HAT.  This  coach  is  rather  behind  its 
time  to-day,  I  guess. 

STRAW  HAT  (doubtingly).     Yes,  sir. 

BROWN  HAT  (looking  at  his  watch).  Yes,  sir; 
nigh  upon  two  hours. 


FOR   GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  277 

STRAW  HAT  (raising  his  eyebrows  in  very  great 
surprise).  Yes,  sir ! 

BROWN  HAT  (decisively,  as  he  puts  up  his  watch). 
Yes,  sir. 

ALL  THE  OTHER  INSIDE  PASSENGERS  (among  them- 
selves).  Yes,  sir. 

COACHMAN  (in  a  very  surly  tone).     No,  it  ain't. 

STRAW  HAT  (to  the  coachman).  Well,  I  don't 
know,  sir.  We  were  a  pretty  tall  time  coming  that 
last  fifteen  mile.  That's  a  fact. 

The  coachman  making  no  reply,  and  plainly  de- 
clining to  enter  into  any  controversy  on  a  subject 
so  far  removed  from  his  sympathies  and  feelings, 
another  passenger  says,  "Yes,  sir;"  and  the  gentle- 
man in  the  straw  hat,  in  acknowledgment  of  his 
courtesy,  says,  "Yes,  sir,"  to  him  in  return.  The 
straw  hat  then  inquires  of  the  brown  hat  whether 
that  coach  in  which  he  (the  straw  hat)  then  sits  is 
not  a  new  one  ?  To  which  the  brown  hat  again 
makes  answer,  "  Yes,  sir." 

STRAW  HAT.  I  thought  so.  Pretty  loud  smell 
of  varnish,  sir  ? 

BROWN  HAT.     Yes,  sir. 

ALL  THE  OTHER  INSIDE  PASSENGERS.       Yes,  sir. 

BROWN  HAT  (to  the  company  in  general).  Yes, 
sir. 

The  conversational  powers  of  the  company  having 
been  by  this  time  pretty  heavily  taxed,  the  straw 
hat  opens  the  door  and  gets  out ;  and  all  the  rest 
alight  also.  We  dine  soon  afterwards  with  the 
boarders  in  the  house,  and  have  nothing  to  drink 
but  tea  and  coffee.  As  they  are  both  very  bad,  and 
the  water  is  worse,  I  ask  for  brandy ;  but  it  is  a 
Temperance  Hotel,  and  spirits  are  not  to  be  had  for 


278  AMERICAN   NOTES 

love  or  money.  This  preposterous  forcing  of  un- 
pleasant drinks  down  the  reluctant  throats  of  trav- 
ellers is  not  at  all  uncommon  in  America,  but  I 
never  discovered  that  the  scruples  of  such  wincing 
landlords  induced  them  to  preserve  any  unusually 
nice  balance  between  the  quality  of  their  fare  and 
their  scale  of  charges  :  on  the  contrary,  I  rather 
suspected  them  of  diminishing  the  one  and  exalting 
the  other,  by  way  of  recompense  for  the  loss  of  their 
profit  on  the  sale  of  spirituous  liquors.  After  all, 
perhaps,  the  plainest  course  for  persons  of  such 
tender  consciences  would  be,  a  total  abstinence  from 
tavern-keeping. 

Dinner  over,  we  get  into  another  vehicle  which  is 
ready  at  the  door  (for  the  coach  has  been  changed 
in  the  interval),  and  resume  our  journey;  which 
continues  through  the  same  kind  of  country  until 
evening,  when  we  come  to  the  town  where  we  are 
to  stop  for  tea  and  supper ;  and  having  delivered  the 
mail-bags  at  the  Post  Office,  ride  through  the  usual 
wide  street,  lined  with  the  usual  stores  and  houses 
(the  drapers  always  having  hung  up  at  their  door, 
by  way  of  sign,  a  piece  of  bright  red  cloth),  to  the 
hotel  where  this  meal  is  prepared.  There  being 
many  boarders  here,  we  sit  down  a  large  party,  and 
a  very  melancholy  one  as  usual.  But  there  is  a 
buxom  hostess  at  the  head  of  the  table,  and  oppo- 
site, a  simple  Welsh  schoolmaster  with  his  wife  and 
child ;  who  came  here,  on  a  speculation  of  greater 
promise  than  performance,  to  teach  the  classics :  and 
they  are  sufficient  subjects  of  interest  until  the  meal 
is  over,  and  another  coach  is  ready.  In  it  we  go  on 
once  more,  lighted  by  a  bright  moon,  until  midnight ; 
when  we  stop  to  change  the  coach  again,  and  remain 


FOB   GENERAL    CIRCULATION.  279 

for  half  an  hour  or  so  in  a  miserable  room,  with  a 
blurred  lithograph  of  Washington  over  the  smoky 
fireplace,  and  a  mighty  jug  of  cold  water  on  the 
table  :  to  which  refreshment  the  moody  passengers 
do  so  apply  themselves  that  they  would  seem  to  be, 
one  and  all,  keen  patients  of  Doctor  Sangrado. 
Among  them  is  a  very  little  boy,  who  chews  tobacco 
like  a  very  big  one ;  and  a  droning  gentleman  who 
talks  arithmetically  and  statistically  on  all  subjects, 
from  poetry  downwards  ;  and  who  always  speaks  in 
the  same  key,  with  exactly  the  same  emphasis,  and 
with  very  grave  deliberation.  He  came  outside  just 
now,  and  told  me  how  that  the  uncle  of  a  certain 
young  lady  who  had  been  spirited  away  and  married 
by  a  certain  captain  lived  in  these  parts ;  and  how 
this  uncle  was  so  valiant  and  ferocious  that  he 
shouldn't  wonder  if  he  were  to  follow  the  said  cap- 
tain to  England,  "  and  shoot  him  down  in  the  street, 
wherever  he  found  him  ; "  in  the  feasibility  of  which 
strong  measure  I,  being  for  the  moment  rather  prone 
to  contradiction,  from  feeling  half  asleep  and  very 
tired,  declined  to  acquiesce :  assuring  him  that  if 
the  uncle  did  resort  to  it,  or  gratified  any  other  little 
whim  of  the  like  nature,  he  would  find  himself  one 
morning  prematurely  throttled  at  the  Old  Bailey; 
and  that  he  would  do  well  to  make  his  will  before 
he  went,  as  he  would  certainly  want  it  before  he 
had  been  in  Britain  very  long. 

On  we  go  all  night,  and  by  and  by  the  day  begins 
to  break,  and  presently  the  first  cheerful  rays  of  the 
warm  sun  come  slanting  on  us  brightly.  It  sheds 
its  light  upon  a  miserable  waste  of  sodden  grass, 
and  dull  trees,  and  squalid  huts,  whose  aspect  is 
forlorn  and  grievous  in  the  last  degree.  A  very 


280  AMEBICAN  NOTES 

desert  in  the  wood,  whose  growth  of  green  is  dank 
and  noxious  like  that  upon  the  top  of  standing 
water :  where  poisonous  fungus  grows  in  the  rare 
footprint  on  the  oozy  ground,  and  sprouts  like 
witches'  coral  from  the  crevices  in  the  cabin  wall 
and  floor ;  it  is  a  hideous  thing  to  lie  upon  the  very 
threshold  of  a  city.  But  it  was  purchased  years 
ago,  and  as  the  owner  cannot  be  discovered,  the 
State  has  been  unable  to  reclaim  it.  So  there  it 
remains,  in  the  midst  of  cultivation  and  improve- 
ment, like  ground  accursed,  and  made  obscene  and 
rank  by  some  great  crime. 

We  reached  Columbus  shortly  before  seven 
o'clock,  and  stayed  there,  to  refresh,  that  day  and 
night :  having  excellent  apartments  in  a  very  large 
unfinished  hotel  called  the  ISTeill  House,  which  were 
richly  fitted  with  the  polished  wood  of  the  black 
walnut,  and  opened  on  a  handsome  portico  and  stone 
veranda,  like  rooms  in  some  Italian  mansion.  The 
town  is  clean  and  pretty,  and  of  course  is  "  going  to 
be  "  much  larger.  It  is  the  seat  of  the  State  legis- 
lature of  Ohio,  and  lays  claim,  in  consequence,  to 
some  consideration  and  importance. 

There  being  no  stage-coach  next  day  upon  the 
road  we  wished  to  take,  I  hired  "  an  extra,"  at  a 
reasonable  charge,  to  carry  us  to  Tiffin;  a  small 
town  from  whence  there  is  a  railroad  to  Sandusky. 
This  extra  was  an  ordinary  four-horse  stage-coach, 
such  as  I  have  described,  changing  horses  and 
drivers,  as  the  stage-coach  would,  but  was  exclu- 
sively our  own  for  the  journey.  To  insure  our 
having  horses  at  the  proper  stations,  and  being 
incommoded  by  no  strangers,  the  proprietors  sent 
an  agent  on  the  box,  who  was  to  accompany  us  the 


FOB   GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  281 

whole  way  through ;  and  thus  attended,  and  bearing 
with  us,  besides,  a  hamper  full  of  savory  cold 
meats,  and  fruit,  and  wine  ;  we  started  off  again,  in 
high  spirits,  at  half-past  six  o'clock  next  morning, 
very  much  delighted  to  be  by  ourselves,  and  dis- 
posed to  enjoy  even  the  roughest  journey. 

It  was  well  for  us  that  we  were  in  this  humor,  for 
the  road  we  went  over  that  day  was  certainly 
enough  to  have  shaken  tempers  that  were  not  res- 
olutely at  Set  Fair  down  to  some  inches  below 
Stormy.  At  one  time  we  were  all  flung  together  in 
a  heap  at  the  bottom  of  the  coach,  and  at  another 
we  were  crushing  our  heads  against  the  roof.  Now 
one  side  was  down  deep  in  the  mire,  and  we  were 
holding  on  to  the  other.  Now  the  coach  was  lying 
on  the  tails  of  the  two  wheelers  ;  and  now  it  was 
rearing  up  in  the  air,  in  a  frantic  state,  with  all 
four  horses  standing  on  the  top  of  an  insurmount- 
able eminence,  looking  coolly  back  at  it,  as  though 
they  would  say,  "  Unharness  us.  It  can't  be  done." 
The  drivers  on  these  roads,  who  certainly  get  over 
the  road  in  a  mariner  which  is  quite  miraculous,  so 
twist  and  turn  the  team  about  in  forcing  a  passage, 
corkscrew  fashion,  through  the  bogs  and  swamps, 
that  it  was  quite  a  common  circumstance,  on  look- 
ing out  of  the  window,  to  see  the  coachman,  with 
the  ends  of  a  pair  of  reins  in  his  hands,  apparently 
driving  nothing,  or  playing  at  horses,  and  the  leaders 
staring  at  one  unexpectediy  from  the  back  of  the 
coach,  as  if  they  had  some  idea  of  getting  up 
behind.  A  great  portion  of  the  way  was  over 
what  is  called  a  corduroy  road,  which  is  made  by 
throwing  trunks  of  trees  into  a  marsh,  and  leaving 
them,  to  settle  there.  The  very  slightest  of  the 


282  AMERICAN  NOTES 

jolts  with  which  the  ponderous  carriage  fell  from 
log  to  log  was  enough,  it  seemed,  to  have  dislocated 
all  the  bones  in  the  human  body.  It  would  be  im- 
possible to  experience  a  similar  set  of  sensations  in 
any  other  circumstances,  unless,  perhaps,  in  attempt- 
ing to  go  up  to  the  top  of  St.  Paul's  in  an  omnibus. 
Never,  never  once,  that  day,  was  the  coach  in  any 
position,  attitude,  or  kind  of  motion  to  which  we 
are  accustomed  in  coaches.  Never  did  it  make  the 
smallest  approach  to  one's  experience  of  the  pro- 
ceedings of  any  sort  of  vehicle  that  goes  on  wheels. 

Still,  it  was  a  fine  day,  and  the  temperature  was 
delicious,  and  though  we  had  left  Summer  behind 
us  in  the  west,  and  were  fast  leaving  Spring,  we 
were  moving  towards  Niagara  and  home.  We 
alighted  in  a  pleasant  wood  towards  the  middle  of 
the  day,  dined  on  a  fallen  tree,  and  leaving  our 
best  fragments  with  a  cottager,  and  our  worst  with 
the  pigs  (who  swarm  in  this  part  of  the  country 
like  grains  of  sand  on  the  seashore,  to  the  great 
comfort  of  our  commissariat  in  Canada),  we  went 
forward  again  gayly. 

As  night  came  on,  the  track  grew  narrower  and 
narrower,  until  at  last  it  so  lost  itself  among  the 
trees,  that  the  driver  seemed  to  find  his  way  by  in- 
stinct. We  had  the  comfort  of  knowing,  at  least, 
that  there  was  no  danger  of  his  falling  asleep,  for 
every  now  and  then  a  wheel  would  strike  against 
an  unseen  stump  with  .such  a  jerk,  that  he  was 
fain  to  hold  on  pretty  tight  and  pretty  quick,  to 
keep  himself  upon  the  box.  Nor  was  there  any 
reason  to  dread  the  least  danger  from  furious  driv- 
ing, inasmuch  as  over  that  broken  ground  the  horses 
had  enough  to  do  to  walk ;  as  to  shying,  there  was 


FOR   GENERAL   CIRCULATION.  283 

no  room  for  that;  and  a  herd  of  wild  elephants 
could  not  have  run  away  in  such  a  wood  with  such 
a  coach  at  their  heels.  So  we  stumbled  along, 
quite  satisfied. 

These  stumps  of  trees  are  a  curious  feature  in 
American  travelling.  The  varying  illusions  they 
present  to  the  unaccustomed  eye,  as  it  grows  dark, 
are  quite  astonishing  in  their  number  and  reality. 
IsTow  there  is  a  Grecian  urn  in  the  centre  of  a  lonely 
field ;  now  there  is  a  woman  weeping  at  a  tomb ; 
now  a  very  commonplace  old  gentleman  in  a  white 
waistcoat,  with  a  thumb  thrust  into  each  armhole 
of  his  coat ;  now  a  student  poring  on  a  book ;  now 
a  crouching  negro ;  now  a  horse,  a  dog,  a  cannon,  an 
armed  man;  a  hunchback  throwing  off  his  cloak 
and  stepping  forth  into  the  light.  They  were  often 
as  entertaining  to  me  as  so  many  glasses  in  a  magic 
lantern,  and  never  took  their  shapes  at  my  bidding, 
but  seemed  to  force  themselves  upon  me,  whether  I 
would  or  no ;  and,  strange  to  say,  I  sometimes 
recognized  in  them  counterparts  of  figures  once 
familiar  to  me  in  pictures  attached  to  childish 
books,  forgotten  long  ago. 

It  soon  became  too  dark,  however,  even  for  this 
amusement,  and  the  trees  were  so  close  together 
that  their  dry  branches  rattled  against  the  coach  on 
either  side,  and  obliged  us  all  to  keep  our  heads 
within.  It  lightened,  too,  for  three  whole  hours ; 
each  flash  being  very  bright,  and  blue,  and  long ; 
and  as  the  vivid  streaks  came  darting  in  among  the 
crowded  branches,  and  the  thunder  rolled  gloomily 
above  the  tree-tops,  one  could  scarcely  help  thinking 
that  there  were  better  neighborhoods  at  such  a  time 
than  thick  woods  afforded. 


284  AMERICAN  NOTES 

At  length,  between  ten  and  eleven  o'clock  at 
night,  a  few  feeble  lights  appeared  in  the  distance, 
and  Upper  Sandusky,  an  Indian  village,  where  we 
were  to  stay  till  morning,  lay  before  us. 

They  were  gone  to  bed  at  the  log-inn,  which  was 
the  only  house  of  entertainment  in  the  place,  but 
soon  answered  to  our  knocking,  and  got  some  tea 
for  us  in  a  sort  of  kitchen  or  common  room,  tapes- 
tried with  old  newspapers,  pasted  against  the  wall. 
The  bedchamber  to  which  my  wife  and  I  were 
shown  was  a  large,  low,  ghostly  room  ;  with  a  quan- 
tity of  withered  branches  on  the  hearth,  and  two 
doors  without  any  fastening,  opposite  to  each  other, 
both  opening  on  the  black  night  and  wild  country, 
and  so  contrived  that  one  of  them  always  blew  the 
other  open :  a  novelty  in  domestic  architecture 
which  I  do  not  remember  to  have  seen  before,  and 
which  I  was  somewhat  disconcerted  to  have  forced 
on  my  attention  after  getting  into  bed,  as  I  had  a 
considerable  sum  in  gold,  for  our  travelling  ex- 
penses, in  my  dressing-case.  Some  of  the  luggage, 
however,  piled  against  the  panels,  soon  settled  this 
difficulty,  and  my  sleep  would  not  have  been  very 
much  affected  that  night,  I  believe,  though  it  had 
failed  to  do  so. 

My  Boston  friend  climbed  up  to  bed  somewhere 
in  the  roof,  where  another  guest  was  already  snor- 
ing hugely.  But,  being  bitten  beyond  his  power  of 
endurance,  he  turned  out  again,  and  fled  for  shelter 
to  the  coach,  which  was  airing  itself  in  front  of  the 
house.  This  was  not  a  very  politic  step  as  it  turned 
out,  for  the  pigs  scenting  him,  and  looking  upon 
the  coach  as  a  kind  of  pie  with  some  manner  of 
meat  inside,  grunted  round  it  so  hideously,  that  he 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  285 

was  afraid  to  come  out  again,  and  lay  there  shiver- 
ing till  morning.  Nor  was  it  possible  to  warm  him 
when  he  did  come  out,  by  means  of  a  glass  of 
brandy ;  for  in  Indian  villages,  the  legislature,  with 
a  very  good  and  wise  intention,  forbids  the  sale  of 
spirits  by  tavern-keepers.  The  precaution,  however, 
is  quite  inefficacious,  for  the  Indians  never  fail  to 
procure  liquor  of  a  worse  kind,  at  a  dearer  price, 
from  travelling  peddlers. 

It  is  a  settlement  of  the  Wyandot  Indians  who 
inhabit  this  place.  Among  the  company  at  break- 
fast was  a  mild  old  gentleman,  who  had  been  for 
many  years  employed  by  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment in  conducting  negotiations  with  the  Indians, 
and  who  had  just  concluded  a  treaty  with  these 
people  by  which  they  bound  themselves,  in  consid- 
eration of  a  certain  annual  sum,  to  remove  next  year 
to  some  land  provided  for  them  west  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, and  a  little  way  beyond  St.  Louis.  He  gave 
me  a  moving  account  of  their  strong  attachment  to 
the  familiar  scenes  of  their  infancy,  and  in  particu- 
lar to  the  burial-places  of  their  kindred;  and  of 
their  great  reluctance  to  leave  them.  He  had  wit- 
nessed many  such  removals,  and  always  with  pain, 
though  he  knew  that  they  departed  for  their  own 
good.  The  question  whether  this  tribe  should  go  or 
stay  had  been  discussed  among  them  a  day  or  two 
before,  in  a  hut  erected  for  the  purpose,  the  logs 
of  which  still  lay  upon  the  ground  before  the  inn. 
When  the  speaking  was  done,  the  ayes  and  noes 
were  ranged  on  opposite  sides,  and  every  male  adult 
voted  in  his  turn.  The  moment  the  result  was 
known,  the  minority  (a  large  one)  cheerfully  yielded 
to  the  rest,  and  withdrew  all  kind  of  opposition. 


286  AMERICAN  NOTES 

We  met  some  of  these  poor  Indians  afterwards, 
riding  on  shaggy  ponies.  They  were  so  like  the 
meaner  sort  of  gypsies,  that  if  I  could  have  seen 
any  of  them  in  England,  I  should  have  concluded, 
as  a  matter  of  course,  that  they  belonged  to  that 
wandering  and  restless  people. 

Leaving  this  town  directly  after  breakfast,  we 
pushed  forward  again,  over  a  rather  worse  road  than 
yesterday,  if  possible,  and  arrived  about  noon  at 
Tiffin,  where  we  parted  with  the  extra.  At  two 
o'clock  we  took  the  railroad ;  the  travelling  on 
which  was  very  slow,  its  construction  being  indif- 
ferent, and  the  ground  wet  and  marshy ;  and  arrived 
at  Sandusky  in  time  to  dine  that  evening.  We  put 
up  at  a  comfortable  little  hotel  on  the  brink  of  Lake 
Erie,  lay  there  that  night,  and  had  no  choice  but  to 
wait  there  next  day,  until  a  steamboat  bound  for 
Buffalo  appeared.  The  town,  which  was  sluggish 
and  uninteresting  enough,  was  something  like  the 
back  of  an  English  watering-place  out  of  the  season. 

Our  host,  who  was  very  attentive  and  anxious  to 
make  us  comfortable,  was  a  handsome  middle-aged 
man,  who  had  come  to  this  town  from  New  England, 
in  which  part  of  the  country  he  was  "  raised."  When 
I  say  that  he  constantly  walked  in  and 'out  of  the 
room  with  his  hat  on ;  and  stopped  to  converse  in 
the  same  free-and-easy  state ;  and  lay  down  on  our 
sofa,  and  pulled  his  newspaper  out  of  his  pocket, 
and  read  it  at  his  ease  ;  I  merely  mention  these 
traits  as  characteristic  of  the  country :  not  at  all  as 
being  matter  of  complaint,  or  as  having  been  dis- 
agreeable to  me.  I  should  undoubtedly  be  offended 
by  such  proceedings  at  home,  because  there  they  are 
not  the  custom,  and  where  they  are  not,  they  would 


FOR   GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  287 

be  impertinences ;  but,  in.  America,  the  only  desire 
of  a  good-natured  fellow  of  this  kind  is  to  treat  his 
guests  hospitably  and  well;  and  I  had  no  more 
right,  and  I  can  truly  say  no  more  disposition,  to 
measure  his  conduct  by  our  English  rule  and  stand- 
ard, than  I  had  to  quarrel  with  him  for  not  being 
of  the  exact  stature  which  would  qualify  him  for 
admission  into  the  Queen's  Grenadier  Guards.  As 
little  inclination  had  I  to  find  fault  with  a  funny 
old  lady  who  was  an  upper  domestic  in  this  estab- 
lishment, and  who,  when  she  came  to  wait  upon  us 
at  any  meal,  sat  herself  down  comfortably  in  the 
most  convenient  chair,  and,  producing  a  large  pin  to 
pick  her  teeth  with,  remained  performing  that  cere- 
mony, and  steadfastly  regarding  us  meanwhile  with 
much  gravity  and  composure  (now  and  then  pressing 
us  to  eat  a  little  more),  until  it  was  time  to  clear 
away.  It  was  enough  for  us  that  whatever  we 
wished  done  was  done  with  great  civility  and  readi- 
ness, and  a  desire  to  oblige,  not  only  here,  but  every- 
where else ;  and  that  all  our  wants  were,  in  general, 
zealously  anticipated. 

We  were  taking  an  early  dinner  at  this  house,  on 
the  day  after  our  arrival,  which  was  Sunday,  when 
a  steamboat  came  in  sight,  and  presently  touched  at 
the  wharf.  As  she  proved  to  be  on  her  way  to 
Buffalo,  we  hurried  on  board  with  all  speed,  and 
soon  left  Sandusky  far  behind  us. 

She  was  a  large  vessel  of  five  hundred  tons,  and 
handsomely  fitted  up,  though  with  high-pressure 
engines ;  which  always  conveyed  that  kind  of  feel- 
ing to  me  which  I  should  be  likely  to  experience,  I 
think,  if  I  had  lodgings  on  the  first  floor  of  a 
powder-mill.  She  was  laden  with  flour,  some  casks 


288  AMERICAN   NOTES 

of  which  commodity  were  stored  upon  the  deck. 
The  captain  coming  up  to  have  a  little  conversation, 
and  to  introduce  a  friend,  seated  himself  astride  of 
one  of  these  barrels,  like  a  Bacchus  of  private  life ; 
and  pulling  a  great  clasp-knife  out  of  his  pocket, 
began  to  "  whittle  "  it  as  he  talked,  by  paring  thin, 
slices  off  the  edges.  And  he  whittled  with  such 
industry  and  hearty  good-will,  that  but  for  his  being 
called  very  soon,  it  must  have  disappeared  bodily, 
and  left  nothing  in  its  place  but  grist  and  shavings. 

After  calling  at  one  or  two  flat  places,  with  low 
dams  stretching  out  into  the  lake,  whereon  were 
stumpy  lighthouses,  like  windmills  without  sails, 
the  whole  looking  like  a  Dutch  vignette,  we  came  at 
midnight  to  Cleveland,  where  we  lay  all  night,  and 
until  nine  o'clock  next  morning. 

I  entertained  quite  a  curiosity  in  reference  to  this 
place,  from  having  seen  at  Sandusky  a  specimen  of 
its  literature  in  the  shape  of  a  newspaper,  which 
was  very  strong  indeed  upon  the  subject  of  Lord 
Ashburton's  recent  arrival  at  Washington,  to  adjust 
the  points  in  dispute  between  the  United  States 
Government  and  Great  Britain  :  informing  its  read- 
ers that  as  America  had  "  whipped  "  England  in  her 
infancy,  and  whipped  her  again  in  her  youth,  so  it 
was  clearly  necessary  that  she  must  whip  her  once 
again  in  her  maturity  :  and  pledging  its  credit  to  all 
True  Americans,  that  if  Mr.  Webster  did  his  duty 
in  the  approaching  negotiations,  and  sent  the  Eng- 
lish Lord  home  again  in  double-quick  time,  they 
should,  within  two  years,  sing  "  Yankee  Doodle  in 
Hyde  Park,  and  Hail  Columbia  in  the  scarlet  courts 
of  Westminster !"  I  found  it  a  pretty  town,  and 
had  the  satisfaction  of  beholding  the  outside  of  the 


FOR   GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  289 

office  of  the  journal  from  which  I  have  just  quoted. 
I  did  not  enjoy  the  delight  of  seeing  the  wit  who 
indited  the  paragraphs  in  question,  but  I  have  no 
doubt  he  is  a  prodigious  man  in  his  way,  and  held 
in  high  repute  by  a  select  circle. 

There  was  a  gentleman  on  board,  to  whom,  as  I 
unintentionally  learned  through  the  thin  partition 
which  divided  our  stateroom  from  the  cabin  in  which 
he  and  his  wife  conversed  together,  I  was  unwit- 
tingly the  occasion  of  very  great  uneasiness.  I 
don't  know  why  or  wherefore,  but  I  appeared  to  run 
in  his  mind  perpetually,  and  to  dissatisfy  him  very 
much.  First  of  all  I  heard  him  say :  and  the  most 
ludicrous  part  of  the  business  was,  that  he  said  it 
in  my  very  ear,  and  could  not  have  communicated 
more  directly  with  me,  if  he  had  leaned  upon  my 
shoulder,  and  whispered  me  :  "  Boz  is  on  board  still, 
my  dear."  After  a  considerable  pause  he  added, 
complainingly,  "  Boz  keeps  himself  very  close :  " 
which  was  true  enough,  for  I  was  not  very  well,  and 
was  lying  down,  with  a  book.  I  thought  he  had 
done  with  me  after  this,  but  I  was  deceived ;  for  a 
long  interval  having  elapsed,  during  which  I  imagine 
him  to  have  been  turning  restlessly  from  side  to 
side,  and  trying  to  go  to  sleep,  he  broke  out  again 
with,  "  I  suppose  that  Boz  will  be  writing  a  book  by 
and  by,  and  putting  all  our  names  in  it ! "  at  which 
imaginary  consequence  of  being  on  board  a  boat 
with  Boz,  he  groaned,  and  became  silent. 

We  called  at  the  town  of  Erie  at  eight  o'clock 
that  night,  and  lay  there  an  hour.  Between  five 
and  six  next  morning  we  arrived  at  Buffalo,  where 
we  breakfasted;  and,  being  too  near  the  Great 
Falls  to  wait  patiently  anywhere  else,  we  set  off 
19 


290  AMERICAN  NOTES 

by  the  train,  the  same  morning  at  nine  o'clock,  to 
Niagara. 

It  was  a  miserable  day ;  chilly  and  raw ;  a  damp 
mist  falling ;  and  the  trees  in  that  northern  region 
quite  bare  and  wintry.  Whenever  the  train  halted, 
I  listened  for  the  roar ;  and  was  constantly  strain- 
ing my  eyes  in  the  direction  where  I  knew  the  Falls 
must  be,  from  seeing  the  river  rolling  on  towards 
them ;  every  moment  expecting  to  behold  the  spray. 
Within  a  few  minutes  of  our  stopping,  not  before,  I 
saw  two  great  white  clouds  rising  up  slowly  and 
majestically  from  the  depths  of  the  earth.  That 
was  all.  At  length  we  alighted :  and  then,  for  the 
first  time,  I  heard  the  mighty  rush  of  water,  and 
felt  the  ground  tremble  underneath  my  feet. 

The  bank  is  very  steep,  and  was  slippery  with 
rain  and  half-melted  ice.  I  hardly  know  how  I 
got  down,  but  I  was  soon  at  the  bottom,  and  climb- 
ing, with  two  English  officers  who  were  crossing 
and  had  joined  me,  over  some  broken  rocks,  deaf- 
ened by  the  noise,  half  blinded  by  the  spray,  and 
wet  to  the  skin.  We  were  at  the  foot  of  the  Amer- 
ican Fall.  I  could  see  an  immense  torrent  of  water 
tearing  headlong  down  from  some  great  height,  but 
had  no  idea  of  shape,  or  situation,  or  anything  but 
vague  immensity. 

When  we  were  seated  in  the  little  ferry-boat,  and 
were  crossing  the  swollen  river  immediately  before 
both  cataracts,  I  began  to  feel  what  it  was :  but  I 
was  in  a  manner  stunned,  and  unable  to  comprehend 
the  vastness  of  the  scene.  It  was  not  until  I  came 
on  Table  Rock,  and  looked  —  Great  Heaven,  on 
what  a  fall  of  bright  green  water  !  —  that  it  came 
upon  me  in  its  full  might  and  majesty. 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  291 

Then,  when  I  felt  how  near  to  my  Creator  I  was 
standing,  the  first  effect,  and  the  enduring  one  — 
instant  and  lasting  —  of  the  tremendous  spectacle, 
was  Peace.  Peace  of  Mind,  tranquillity,  calm  rec- 
ollections of  the  Dead,  great  thoughts  of  Eternal 
Rest  and  Happiness :  nothing  of  gloom  or  terror. 
Niagara  was  at  once  stamped  upon  my  heart,  an 
Image  of  Beauty ;  to  remain  there,  changeless  and 
indelible,  until  its  pulses  cease  to  beat,  forever. 

Oh,  how  the  strife  and  trouble  of  daily  life 
receded  from  my  view,  and  lessened  in  the  distance, 
during  the  ten  memorable  days  we  passed  on  that 
Enchanted  Ground !  What  voices  spoke  from  out 
the  thundering  water ;  what  faces,  faded  from  the 
earth,  looked  out  upon  me  from  its  gleaming 
depths ;  what  Heavenly  promise  glistened  in  those 
angels'  tears,  the  drops"  of  many  hues,  that  showered 
around,  and  twined  themselves  about  the  gorgeous 
arches  which  the  changing  rainbows  made ! 

I  never  stirred  in  all  that  time  from  the  Canadian 
side,  whither  I  had  gone  at  first.  I  never  crossed 
the  river  again ;  for  I  knew  there  were  people  on 
the  other  shore,  and  in  such  a  place  it  is  natural  to 
shun  strange  company.  To  wander  to  and  fro  all 
day,  and  see  the  cataracts  from  all  points  of  view ; 
to  stand  upon  the  edge  of  the  Great  Horseshoe 
Fall,  marking  the  hurried  water  gathering  strength 
as  it  approached  the  verge,  yet  seeming,  too,  to 
pause  before  it  shot  into  the  gulf  below ;  to  gaze 
from  the  river's  level  up  at  the  torrent  as  it  came 
streaming  down ;  to  climb  the  neighboring  heights 
and  watch  it  through  the  trees,  and  see  the  wreath- 
ing water  in  the  rapids  hurrying  on  to  take  its 
fearful  plunge;  to  linger  in  the  shadow  of  the 


292  AMERICAN   NOTES. 

solemn  rocks  three  miles  below ;  watching  the  river 
as,  stirred  by  no  visible  cause,  it  heaved  and  eddied 
and  awoke  the  echoes,  being  troubled  yet,  far  down 
beneath  the  surface,  by  its  giant  leap;  to  have 
Niagara  before  me,  lighted  by  the  sun  and  by  the 
moon,  red  in  the  day's  decline,  and  gray  as  evening 
slowly  fell  upon  it;  to  look  upon  it  every  day,  and 
wake  up  in  the  night  and  hear  its  ceaseless  voice : 
this  was  enough. 

I  think  in  every  quiet  season  now,  still  do  those 
waters  roll  and  leap,  and  roar  and  tumble,  all  day 
long;  still  are  the  rainbows  spanning  them,  a  hun- 
dred feet  below.  Still,  when  the  sun  is  on  them, 
do  they  shine  and  glow  like  molten  gold.  Still, 
when  the  day  is  gloomy,  do  they  fall  like  snow,  or 
seem  to  crumble  away  like  the  front  of  a  great  chalk 
cliff,  or  roll  down  the  rock  like  dense  white  smoke. 
But  always  does  the  mighty  stream  appear  to  die 
as  it  comes  down,  and  always  from  its  unfathomable 
grave  arises  that  tremendous  ghost  of  spray  and 
mist,  which  is  never  laid :  which  has  haunted  this 
place  with  the  same  dread  solemnity  since  Darkness 
brooded  on  the  deep,  and  that  first  flood  before  the 
Deluge  —  Light  —  came  rushing  on  Creation  at  the 
word  of  God. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

IN  CANADA  :    TORONTO  ;    KINGSTON  ;   MONTREAL  ;  QUE- 
BEC ;  ST.  JOHN'S.  — IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  AGAIN  : 

LEBANON  ;      THE     SHAKER     VILLAGE ;      AND      WEST 
POINT. 

I  WISH  to  abstain  from  instituting  any  compari- 
son, or  drawing  any  parallel  whatever,  between  the 
social  features  of  the  United  States  and  those  of 
the  British  possessions  in  Canada.  For  this  reason, 
I  shall  confine  myself  to  a  very  brief  account  of  our 
journeyings  in  the  latter  territory. 

But,  before  I  leave  Niagara,  I  must  advert  to  one 
disgusting  circumstance,  which  can  hardly  have 
escaped  the  observation  of  any  decent  traveller  who 
has  visited  the  Falls. 

On  Table  Eock  there  is  a  cottage  belonging  to  a 
Guide,  where  little  relics  of  the  place  are  sold,  and 
where  visitors  register  their  names  in  a  book  kept 
for  the  purpose.  On  the  wall  of  the  room  in  which 
a  great  many  of  these  volumes  are  preserved,  the 
following  request  is  posted :  "  Visitors  will  please 
not  copy  nor  extract  the  remarks  and  poetical  effu- 
sions from  the  registers  and  albums  kept  here." 

But  for  this  intimation,  I  should  have  let  them 
lie  upon  the  tables  on  which  they  were  strewn  with 
293 


294  AMERICAN  NOTES 

careful  negligence,  like  books  in  a  drawing-room: 
being  quite  satisfied  with  the  stupendous  silliness 
of  certain  stanzas  with  an  anti-climax  at  the  end  of 
each,  which  were  framed  and  hung  up  on  the  wall. 
Curious,  however,  after  reading  this  announcement, 
to  see  what  kind  of  morsels  were  so  carefully  pre- 
served, I  turned  a  few  leaves,  and  found  them 
scrawled  all  over  with  the  vilest  and  the  filthiest 
ribaldry  that  ever  human  hogs  delighted  in. 

It  is  humiliating  enough  to  know  that  there  are 
among  men  brutes  so  obscene  and  worthless,  that 
they  can  delight  in  laying  their  miserable  profana- 
tions upon  the  very  steps  of  Nature's  greatest  altar. 
But  that  these  should  be  hoarded  up  for  the  delight 
of  their  fellow-swine,  and  kept  in  a  public  place 
where  any  eyes  may  see  them,  is  a  disgrace  to  the 
English  language  in  which  they  are  written  (though 
I  hope  few  of  these  entries  have  been  made  by 
Englishmen),  and  a  reproach  to  the  English  side,  on 
which  they  are  preserved. 

The  quarters  of  our  soldiers  at  Niagara  are  finely 
and  airily  situated.  Some  of  them  are  large  de- 
tached houses  on  the  plain  above  the  Falls,  Avhich 
were  originally  designed  for  hotels ;  and  in  the 
evening-time,  when  the  women  and  children  were 
leaning  over  the  balconies  watching  the  men  as  they 
played  at  ball  and  other  games  upon  the  grass 
before  the  door,  they  often  presented  a  little  picture 
of  cheerfulness  and  animation  which  made  it  quite  a 
pleasure  to  pass  that  way. 

At  any  garrisoned  point  where  the  line  of  demar- 
cation between  one  country  and  another  is  so  very 
narrow  as  at  Niagara,  desertion  from  the  ranks  can 
scarcely  fail  to  be  of  frequent  occurrence :  and  it 


FOR   GENERAL   CIRCULATION.  295 

may  be  reasonably  supposed  that  when  the  soldiers 
entertain  the  wildest  and  maddest  hopes  of  the  for- 
tune and  independence  that  await  them  on  the  other 
side,  the  impulse  to  play  traitor,  which  such  a  place 
suggests  to  dishonest  minds,  is  not  weakened.  But 
it  very  rarely  happens  that  the  men  who  do  desert 
are  happy  or  contented  afterwards ;  and  many 
instances  have  been  known  in  which  they  have 
confessed  their  grievous  disappointment,  and  their 
earnest  desire  to  return  to  their  old  service,  if  they 
could  but  be  assured  of  pardon,  or  of  lenient  treat- 
ment. Many  of  their  comrades,  notwithstanding, 
do  the  like  from  time  to  time  ;  and  instances  of  loss 
of  life  in  the  effort  to  cross  the  river  with  this  ob- 
ject are  far  from  being  uncommon.  Several  men 
were  drowned  in  the  attempt  to  swim  across,  not 
long  ago ;  and  one,  who  had  the  madness  to  trust 
himself  upon  a  table  as  a  raft,  was  swept  down  to 
the  whirlpool,  where  his  mangled  body  eddied  round 
and  round  some  days. 

I  am  inclined  to  think  that  the  noise  of  the  Falls 
is  very  much  exaggerated ;  and  this  will  appear  the 
more  probable  when  the  depth  of  the  great  basin  in 
which  the  water  is  received  is  taken  into  account. 
At  no  time  during  our  stay  there  was  the  wind  at 
all  high  or  boisterous,  but  we  never  heard  them 
three  miles  off,  even  at  the  very  quiet  time  of  sun- 
set, though  we  often  tried. 

Queenston,  at  which  place  the  steamboats  start  for 
Toronto  (or  I  should  rather  say  at  which  place  they 
call,  for  their  wharf  is  at  Lewiston,  on  the  opposite 
shore),  is  situated  in  a  delicious  valley,  through 
which  the  Niagara  River,  in  color  a  very  deep  green, 
pursues  its  course.  It  is  approached  by  a  road  that 


296  AMERICAN  NOTES 

takes  its  winding  way  among  the  heights  by  which 
the  town  is  sheltered ;  and,  seen  from  this  point,  is 
extremely  beautiful  and  picturesque.  On  the  most 
conspicuous  of  these  heights  stood  a  monument 
erected  by  the  Provincial  Legislature  in  memory 
of  General  Brock,  who  was  slain  in  a  battle  with 
the  American  Forces,  after  having  won  the  victory. 
Some  vagabond,  supposed  to  be  a  fellow  of  the  name 
of  Lett,  who  is  now,  or  who  lately  was,  in  prison  as 
a  felon,  blew  up  this  monument  two  years  ago,  and 
it  is  now  a  melancholy  ruin,  with  a  long  fragment 
of  iron  railing  hanging  dejectedly  from  its  top,  and 
waving  to  and  fro  like  a  wild  ivy  branch  or  broken 
vine  stem.  It  is  of  much  higher  importance  than  it 
may  seem,  that  this  statue  should  be  repaired  at 
the  public  cost,  as  it  ought  to  have  been  long  ago. 
Firstly,  because  it  is  beneath  the  dignity  of  England 
to  allow  a  memorial  raised  in  honor  of  one  of  her 
defenders  to  remain  in  this  condition,  on  the  very 
spot  where  he  died.  Secondly,  because  the  sight  of 
it  in  its  present  state,  and  the  recollection  of  the 
unpunished  outrage  which  brought  it  to  this  pass,  is 
not  very  likely  to  soothe  down  border  feelings  among 
English  subjects  here,  or  compose  their  border  quar- 
rels and  dislikes. 

I  was  standing  on  the  wharf  at  this  place,  watch- 
ing the  passengers  embarking  in  a  steamboat  which 
preceded  that  whose  coming  we  awaited,  and  partici- 
pating in  the  anxiety  with  which  a  sergeant's  wife 
was  collecting  her  few  goods  together  —  keeping 
one  distracted  eye  hard  upon  the  porters,  who  were 
hurrying  them  on  board,  and  the  other  on  a  hoopless 
washing  tub  for  which,  as  being  the  most  utterly 
worthless  of  all  her  movables,  she  seemed  to  enter- 


FOR   GENERAL   CIRCULATION.  297 

tain  particular  affection  —  when  three  or  four  sol- 
diers with  a  recruit  came  up,  and  went  on  board. 

The  recruit  was  a  likely  young  fellow  enough, 
strongly  built  and  well  made,  but  by  no  means 
sober :  indeed,  he  had  all  the  air  of  a  man  who 
had  been  more  or  less  drunk  for  some  days.  He 
carried  a  small  bundle  over  his  shoulder,  slung  at 
the  end  of  a  walking-stick,  and  had  a  short  pipe  in 
his  mouth.  He  was  as  dusty  and  dirty  as  recruits 
usually  are,  and  his  shoes  betokened  that  he  had 
travelled  on  foot  some  distance,  but  he  was  in  a 
very  jocose  state,  and  shook  hands  with  this  soldier, 
and  clapped  that  one  on  the  back,  and  talked  and 
laughed  continually,  like  a  roaring  idle  dog  as  he 
was. 

The  soldiers  rather  laughed  at  this  blade  than 
with  him  :  seeming  to  say,  as  they  stood  straighten- 
ing their  canes  in  their  hands,  and  looking  coolly  at 
him  over  their  glazed  stocks,  "  Go  on,  my  boy,  while 
you  may !  you'll  know  better  by  and  by : "  when  sud- 
denly the  novice,  who  had  been  backing  towards  the 
gangway  in  his  noisy  merriment,  fell  overboard  be- 
fore their  eyes,  and  splashed  heavily  down  into  the 
river  between  the  vessel  and  the  dock. 

I  never  saw  such  a  good  thing  as  the  change  that 
came  over  these  soldiers  in  an  instant.  Almost  before 
the  man  was  down,  their  professional  manner,  their 
stiffness  and  constraint,  were  gone,  and  they  were 
filled  with  the  most  violent  energy.  In  less  time 
than  is  required  to  tell  it,  they  had  him  out  again, 
feet  first,  with  the  tails  of  his  coat  flapping  over  his 
eyes,  everything  about  him  hanging  the  wrong  way, 
and  the  water  streaming  off  at  every  thread  in  his 
threadbare  dress.  But  the  moment  they  set  him 


298  AMERICAN  NOTES 

upright,  and  found  that  he  was  none  the  worse,  they 
were  soldiers  again,  looking  over  their  glazed  stocks 
more  composedly  than  ever. 

The  half-sobered  recruit  glanced  round  for  a  mo- 
ment, as  if  his  first  impulse  were  to  express  some 
gratitude  for  his  preservation,  but  seeing  them  with 
this  air  of  total  unconcern,  and  having  his  wet  pipe 
presented  to  him  with  an  oath  by  the  soldier  who 
had  been  by  far  the  most  anxious  of  the  party,  he 
stuck  it  in  his  mouth,  thrust  his  hands  into  his 
moist  pockets,  and,  without  even  shaking  the  water 
off  his  clothes,  walked  on  board  whistling;  not  to 
say  as  if  nothing  had  happened,  but  as  if  he  had 
meant  to  do  it,  and  it  had  been  a  perfect  success. 

Our  steamboat  came  up  directly  this  had  left 
the  wharf,  and  soon  bore  us  to  the  mouth  of  the 
Niagara:  where  the  stars  and  stripes  of  America 
flutter  on  one  side,  and  the  Union  Jack  of  England 
on  the  other :  and  so  narrow  is  the  space  between 
them  that  the  sentinels  in  either  fort  can  often  hear 
the  watchword  of  the  other  country  given.  Thence 
we  emerged  on  Lake  Ontario,  an  inland  seaj  and 
by  half-past  six  o'clock  were  at  Toronto. 

The  country  round  this  town,  being  very  flat,  is 
bare  of  scenic  interest;  but  the  town  itself  is  full 
of  life  and  motion,  bustle,  business,  and  improve- 
ment. The  streets  are  well  paved,  and  lighted  with 
gas ;  the  houses  are  large  and  good ;  the  shops  ex- 
cellent. Many  of  them  have  a  display  of  goods  in 
their  windows,  such  as  may  be  seen  in  thriving 
county  towns  in  England;  and  there  are  some 
which  would  do  no  discredit  to  the  metropolis 
itself.  There  is  a  good  stone  prison  here;  and 
there  are,  besides,  a  handsome  church,  a  Court- 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  299 

house,  public  offices,  many  commodious  private 
residences,  and  a  Government  Observatory  for 
noting  and  recording  the  magnetic  variations.  In 
the  College  of  Upper  Canada,  which  is  one  of  the 
public  establishments  of  the  city,  a  sound  education 
in  every  department  of  polite  learning  can  be  had 
at  a  very  moderate  expense  :  the  annual  charge  for 
the  instruction  of  each  pupil  not  exceeding  nine 
pounds  sterling.  It  has  pretty  good  endowments  in 
the  way  of  land,  and  is  a  valuable  and  useful  insti- 
tution. 

The  first  stone  of  a  new  college  had  been  laid  but 
a  few  days  before  by  the  Governor  General.  It 
will  be  a  handsome,  spacious  edifice,  approached  by 
a  long  avenue,  which  is  already  planted  and  made 
available  as  a  public  walk.  The  town  is  well 
adapted  for  wholesome  exercise  at  all  seasons,  for 
the  footways  in  the  thoroughfares  which  lie  beyond 
the  principal  streets  are  planked  like  floors,  and 
kept  in  very  good  and  clean  repair. 

It  is  a  matter  of  deep  regret  that  political  differ- 
ences should  have  run  high  in  this  place,  and  led  to 
most  discreditable  and  disgraceful  results.  It  is 
not  long  since  guns  were  discharged  from  a  window 
in  this  town  at  the  successful  candidates  in  an  elec- 
tion, and  the  coachman  of  one  of  them  was  actually 
shot  in  the  body,  though  not  dangerously  wounded. 
But  one  man  was  killed  on  the  same  occasion ;  and 
from  the  very  window  whence  he  received  his  death, 
the  very  flag  which  shielded  his  murderer  (not  only 
in  the  commission  of  his  crime,  but  from  its  conse- 
quences) was  displayed  again  on  the  occasion  of 
the  public  ceremony  performed  by  the  Governor 
General  to  which  I  have  just  adverted.  Of  all  the 


300  AMERICAN  NOTES 

colors  in  the  rainbow,  there  is  but  one  which  could 
be  so  employed  :  I  need  not  say  that  flag  was  orange. 

The  time  of  leaving  Toronto  for  Kingston  is 
noon.  By  eight  o'clock  next  morning  the  traveller 
is  at  the  end  of  his  journey,  which  is  performed  by 
steamboat  upon  Lake  Ontario,  calling  at  Port  Hope 
and  Coburg,  the  latter  a  cheerful,  thriving  little 
town.  Vast  quantities  of  flour  form  the  chief  item 
in  the  freight  of  these  vessels.  We  had  no  fewer 
than  one  thousand  and  eighty  barrels  on  board  be- 
tween Coburg  and  Kingston. 

The  latter  place,  which  is  now  the  seat  of  govern- 
ment in  Canada,  is  a  very  poor  town,  rendered  still 
poorer  in  the  appearance  of  its  market-place  by  the 
ravages  of  a  recent  fire.  Indeed,  it  may  be  said  of 
Kingston,  that  one  half  of  it  appears  to  be  burnt 
down,  and  the  other  half  not  to  be  built  up.  The 
Government  House  is  neither  elegant  nor  commo- 
dious, yet  it  is  almost  the  only  house  of  any  impor- 
tance in  the  neighborhood. 

There  is  an  admirable  jail  here,  well  and  wisely 
governed,  and  excellently  regulated  in  every  re- 
spect. The  men  were  employed  as  shoemakers, 
ropemakers,  blacksmiths,  tailors,  carpenters,  and 
stone-cutters ;  and  in  building  a  new  prison,  which 
was  pretty  far  advanced  towards  completion.  The 
female  prisoners  were  occupied  in  needlework. 
Among  them  was  a  beautiful  girl  of  twenty,  who 
had  been  there  nearly  three  years.  She  acted  as 
bearer  of  secret  despatches  for  the  self-styled  Patri- 
ots on  Navy  Island  during  the  Canadian  Insurrec- 
tion: sometimes  dressing  as  a  girl,  and  carrying 
them  in  her  stays ;  sometimes  attiring  herself  as  a 
boy,  and  secreting  them  in  the  lining  of  her  hat. 


FOR   GENERAL   CIRCULATION.  301 

In  the  latter  character  she  always  rode  as  a  boy 
would,  which  was  nothing  to  her,  for  she  could 
govern  any  horse  that  any  man  could  ride,  and 
could  drive  four-in-hand  with  the  best  whip  in  those 
parts.  Setting  forth  on  one  of  her  patriotic  mis- 
sions, she  appropriated  to  herself  the  first  horse 
she  could  lay  her  hands  on ;  and  this  offence  had 
brought  her  where  I  saw  her.  She  had  quite  a 
lovely  face,  though,  as  the  reader  may  suppose  from 
this  sketch  of  her  history,  there  was  a  lurking  devil 
in  her  bright  eye,  which  looked  out  pretty  sharply 
from  between  her  prison  bars. 

There  is  a  bomb-proof  fort  here  of  great  strength, 
which  occupies  a  bold  position,  and  is  capable, 
doubtless,  of  doing  good  service ;  though  the  town 
is  much  too  close  upon  the  frontier  to  be  long  held, 
I  should  imagine,  for  its  present  purpose  in  troubled 
times.  There  is  also  a  small  navy -yard,  where  a 
couple  of  Government  steamboats  were  building, 
and  getting  on  vigorously. 

We  left  Kingston  for  Montreal  on  the  tenth  of 
May,  at  half-past  nine  in  the  morning,  and  pro- 
ceeded in  a  steamboat  down  the  St.  Lawrence 
River.  The  beauty  of  this  noble  stream  at  almost 
any  point,  but  especially  in  the  commencement  of 
this  journey,  when  it  winds  its  way  among  the 
Thousand  Islands,  can  hardly  be  imagined.  The 
number  and  constant  successions  of  these  islands, 
all  green  and  richly  wooded ;  their  fluctuating  sizes, 
some  so  large  that  for  half  an  hour  together  one 
among  them  will  appear  as  the  opposite  bank  of  the 
river,  and  some  so  small  that  they  are  mere 
dimples  on  its  broad  bosom ;  their  infinite  variety 
of  shapes;  and  the  numberless  combinations  of 


302  AMERICAN  NOTES 

beautiful  forms  which  the  trees  growing  on  them 
present ;  all  form  a  picture  fraught  with  uncommon 
interest  and  pleasure. 

In  the  afternoon  we  shot  down  some  rapids  where 
the  river  boiled  and  bubbled  strangely,  and  where 
the  force  and  headlong  violence  of  the  current  were 
tremendous.  At  seven  o'clock  we  reached  Dicken- 
son's  Landing,  whence  travellers  proceed  for  two 
or  three  hours  by  stage-coach  :  the  navigation  of  the 
river  being  rendered  so  dangerous  and  difficult  in 
the  interval,  by  rapids,  that  steamboats  do  not 
make  the  passage.  The  number  and  length  of 
those  portages,  over  which  the  roads  are  bad,  and 
the  travelling  slow,  render  the  way  between  the 
towns  of  Montreal  and  Kingston  somewhat  tedious. 

Our  course  lay  over  a  wide,  unenclosed  tract  of 
country  at  a  little  distance  from  the  river-side, 
whence  the  bright  warning  lights  on  the  dangerous 
parts  of  the  St.  Lawrence  shone  vividly.  The  night 
was  dark  and  raw,  and  the  way  dreary  enough.  It 
was  nearly  ten  o'clock  when  we  reached  the  wharf 
where  the  next  steamboat  lay ;  and  went  on  board, 
and  to  bed. 

She  lay  there  all  night,  and  started  as  soon  as  it 
was  day.  The  morning  was  ushered  in  by  a  violent 
thunder-storm,  and  was  very  wet,  but  gradually 
improved  and  brightened  up.  Going  on  deck  after 
breakfast,  I  was  amazed  to  see  floating  down  with 
the  stream  a  most  gigantic  raft,  with  some  thirty  or 
forty  wooden  houses  upon  it,  and  at  least  as  many 
flag  masts,  so  that  it  looked  like  a  nautical  street. 
I  saw  many  of  these  rafts  afterwards,  but  never  one 
so  large.  All  the  timber,  or  "lumber,"  as  it  is 
called  in  America,  which  is  brought  down  the  St. 


FOR   GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  303 

Lawrence,  is  floated  down  in  this  manner.  When 
the  raft  reaches  its  place  of  destination,  it  is  broken 
up ;  the  materials  are  sold ;  and  the  boatmen  return 
for  more. 

At  eight  we  landed  again,  and  travelled  by  a 
stage-coach  for  four  hours  through  a  pleasant  and 
well-cultivated  country,  perfectly  French  in  every 
respect :  in  the  appearance  of  the  cottages ;  the  air, 
language,  and  dress  of  the  peasantry,  the  signboards 
on  the  shops  and  taverns ;  and  the  Virgin's  shrines 
and  crosses  by  the  wayside.  Nearly  every  common 
laborer  and  boy,  though  he  had  no  shoes  to  his  feet, 
wore  round  his  waist  a  sash  of  some  bright  color : 
generally  red :  and  the  women,  who  were  working 
in  the  fields  and  gardens,  and  doing  all  kinds  of 
husbandry,  wore,  one  and  all,  great  flat  straw  hats 
with  most  capacious  brims.  There  were  Catholic 
Priests  and  Sisters  of  Charity  in  the  village  streets ; 
and  images  of  the  Saviour  at  the  corners  of  cross- 
roads, and  in  other  public  places. 

At  noon  we  went  on  board  another  steamboat,  and 
reached  the  village  of  Lachine,  nine  miles  from 
Montreal,  by  three  o'clock.  There  we  left  the 
river,  and  went  on  by  land. 

Montreal  is  pleasantly  situated  on  the  margin  of 
the  St.  Lawrence,  and  is  backed  by  some  bold 
heights,  about  which  there  are  charming  rides  and 
drives.  The  streets  are  generally  narrow  and  irregu- 
lar, as  in  most  French  towns  of  any  age ;  but,  in 
the  more  modern  parts  of  the  city,  they  are  wide 
and  airy.  They  display  a  great  variety  of  very 
good  shops  ;  and  both  in  the  town  and  suburbs  there 
are  many  excellent  private  dwellings.  The  granite 
quays  are  remarkable  for  their  beauty,  solidity,  and 
extent. 


304  AMERICAN  NOTES 

There  is  a  very  large  Catholic  cathedral  here, 
recently  erected ;  with  two  tall  spires,  of  which  one 
is  yet  unfinished.  In  the  open  space  in  front  of 
this  edifice  stands  a-  solitary,  grim-looking,  square 
brick  tower,  which  has  a  quaint  and  remarkable 
appearance,  and  which  the  wiseacres  of  the  place 
have  consequently  determined  to  pull  down  imme- 
diately. The  Government  House  is  very  superior 
to  that  at  Kingston,  and  the  town  is  full  of  life  and 
bustle.  In  one  of  the  suburbs  is  a  plank  road  — 
not  footpath  —  five  or  six  miles  long,  and  a  famous 
road  it  is  too.  All  the  rides  in  the  vicinity  were 
made  doubly  interesting  by  the  bursting  out  of 
spring,  which  is  here  so  rapid,  that  it  is  but  a  day's 
leap  from,  barren  winter  to  the  blooming  youth  of 
summer. 

The  steamboats  to  Quebec  perform  the  journey 
in  the  night ;  that  is  to  say,  they  leave  Montreal  at 
six  in  the  evening,  and  arrive  in  Quebec  at  six  next 
morning.  We  made  this  excursion  during  our  stay 
in  Montreal  (which  exceeded  a  fortnight),  and  were 
charmed  by  its  interest  and  beauty. 

The  impression  made  upon  the  visitor  by  this 
Gibraltar  of  America :  its  giddy  heights ;  its  citadel 
suspended,  as  it  were,  in  the  air;  its  picturesque 
steep  streets  and  frowning  gateways ;  and  the 
splendid  views  which  burst  upon  the  eye  at  every 
turn  :  is  at  once  unique  and  lasting. 

It  is  a  place  not  to  be  forgotten,  or  mixed  up  in 
the  mind  with  other  places,  or  altered  for  a  moment 
in  the  crowd  of  scenes  a  traveller  can  recall.  Apart 
from  the  realities  of  this  most  picturesque  city, 
there  are  associations  clustering  about  it  which 
would  make  a  desert  rich  in  interest.  The  danger- 


FOR   GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  305 

ous  precipice  along  whose  rocky  front  Wolfe  and 
his  brave  companions  climbed  to  glory  ;  the  Plains 
of  Abraham,  where  he  received  his  mortal  wound ; 
the  fortress  so  chivalrously  defended  by  Montcalm  ; 
and  his  soldier's  grave,  dug  for  him,  while  yet  alive, 
by  the  bursting  of  a  shell ;  are  not  the  least  among 
them,  or  among  the  gallant  incidents  of  history. 
That  is  a  noble  Monument,  too,  and  worthy  of  two 
great  nations,  which  perpetuates  the  memory  of 
both  brave  generals,  and  on  which  their  names  are 
jointly  written. 

The  city  is  rich  in  public  institutions  and  in 
Catholic  churches  and  charities,  but  it  is  mainly  in 
the  prospect  from  the  site  of  the  Old  Government 
House,  and  from  the  Citadel,  that  its  surpassing 
beauty  lies.  The  exquisite  expanse  of  country,  rich 
in  field  and  forest,  mountain  height  and  water, 
which  lies  stretched  out  before  the  view,  with  miles 
of  Canadian  villages,  glancing  in  long  white  streaks, 
like  veins  along  the  landscape ;  the  motley  crowd  of 
gables,  roofs,  and  chimney-tops  in  the  old  hilly 
town  immediately  at  hand;  the  beautiful  St.  Law- 
rence sparkling  and  flashing  in  the  sunlight ;  and  the 
tiny  ships  below  the  rock  from  which  you  gaze, 
whose  distant  rigging  looks  like  spiders'  webs 
against  the  light,  while  casks  and  barrels  on  their 
decks  dwindle  into  toys,  and  busy  mariners  become 
so  many  puppets  :  all  this,  framed  by  a  sunken 
window  in  the  fortress,  and  looked  at  from  the 
shadowed  room  within,  forms  one  of  the  brightest 
and  most  enchanting  pictures  that  the  eye  can  rest 
upon.  , 

In  the  spring  of  the  year,  vast  numbers  of  emi- 
grants, who  have  newly  arrived  from  England  or 
20 


306  AMERICAN  NOTES 

from  Ireland,  pass  between  Quebec  and  Montreal, 
on  their  way  to  the  backwoods  and  new  settlements 
of  Canada.  If  it  be  an  entertaining  lounge  (as  I 
very  often  found  it)  to  take  a  morning  stroll  upon 
the  quay  at  Montreal,  and  see  them  grouped  in 
hundreds  on  the  public  wharves  about  their  chests 
and  boxes,  it  is  matter  of  deep  interest  to  be  their 
fellow-passenger  on  one  of  these  steamboats,  and, 
mingling  with  the  concourse,  see  and  hear  them 
unobserved. 

The  vessel  in  which  we  returned  from  Quebec  to 
Montreal  was  crowded  with  them,  and  at  night  they 
spread  their  beds  between  decks  (those  who  had 
beds,  at  least),  and  slept  so  close  and  thick  about 
our  cabin  door,  that  the  passage  to  and  fro  was  quite 
blocked  up.  They  were  nearly  all  English ;  from 
Gloucestershire  the  greater  part ;  and  had  had  a 
long  winter  passage  out ;  but  it  was  wonderful  to 
see  how  clean  the  children  had  been  kept,  and  how 
untiring  in  their  love  and  self-denial  all  the  poor 
parents  were. 

Cant  as  we  may,  and  as  we  shall  to  the  end  of  all 
things,  it  is  very  much  harder  for  the  poor  to  be 
virtuous  than  it  is  for  the  rich ;  and  the  good  that 
is  in  them  shines  the  brighter  for  it.  In  many  a 
noble  mansion  lives  a  man,  the  best  of  husbands  and 
of  fathers,  whose  private  worth  in  both  capacities 
is  justly  lauded  to  the  skies.  But  bring  him  here, 
upon  this  crowded  deck.  Strip  from  his  fair  young 
wife  her  silken  dress  and  jewels,  unbind  her  braided 
hair,  stamp  early  wrinkles  on  her  brow,  pinch  her 
pale  cjieek  with  care  and  much  privation,  array  her 
faded  form  in  coarsely  patched  attire,  let  there  be 
nothing  but  his  love  to  set  her  forth  or  deck  her  out, 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  307 

and  you  shall  put  it  to  the  proof  indeed.  So  change 
his  station  in  the  world,  that  he  shall  see  in  those 
young  things  who  climb  about  his  knee  :  not  records 
of  his  wealth  and  name :  but  little  wrestlers  with 
him  for  his  daily  bread ;  so  many  poachers  on  his 
scanty  meal ;  so  many  units  to  divide  his  every  sum 
of  comfort,  and  farther  to  reduce  its  small  amount. 
In  lieu  of  the  endearments  of  childhood  in  its 
sweetest  aspect,  heap  upon  him  all  its  pains  and 
wants,  its  sicknesses  and  ills,  its  fretfulness,  caprice, 
and  querulous  endurance  :  let  its  prattle  be,  not  of 
engaging  infant  fancies,  but  of  cold,  and  thirst,  and 
hunger :  and  if  his  fatherly  affection  outlive  all 
this,  and  he  be  patient,  watchful,  tender ;  careful  of 
his  children's  lives,  and  mindful  always  of  their 
joys  and  sorrows  ;  then  send  him  back  to  Parlia- 
ment, and  Pulpit,  and  to  Quarter  Sessions,  and  when 
he  hears  fine  talk  of  the  depravity  of  those  who 
live  from  hand  to  mouth,  and  labor  hard  to  do  it, 
let  him  speak  up,  as  one  who  knows,  and  tell  those 
holders  forth  that  they,  by  parallel  with  such  a  class, 
should  be  High  Angels  in  their  daily  lives,  and  lay 
but  humble  siege  to  Heaven  at  last. 

Which  of  us  shall  say  what  he  would  be,  if  such 
realities,  with  small  relief  or  change  all  through  his 
days,  were  his  ?  Looking  round  upon  these  people ; 
far  from  home,  houseless,  indigent,  wandering, 
weary  with  travel  and  hard  living :  and  seeing  how 
patiently  they  nursed  and  tended  their  young  chil- 
dren ;  how  they  consulted  ever  their  wants  first, 
then  half  supplied  their  own ;  what  gentle  minis- 
ters of  hope  and  faith  the  women  were ;  how  the 
men  profited  by  their  example  ;  and  how  very,  very 
seldom  even  a  moment's  petulance  or  harsh  com- 


308  AMERICAN   NOTES 

plaint  broke  out  among  them :  I  felt  a  stronger  love 
and  honor  of  my  kind  come  glowing  on  my  heart, 
and  wished  to  God  there  had  been  many  Atheists  in 
the  better  part  of  human  nature  there,  to  read  this 
simple  lesson  in  the  book  of  Life. 

We  left  Montreal  for  New  York  again  on  the 
thirtieth  of  May;  crossing  to  La  Prairie,  on  the 
opposite  shore  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  in  a  steamboat ; 
we  then  took  the  railroad  to  St.  John's,  which  is  on 
the  brink  of  Lake  Champlain.  Our  last  greeting  in 
Canada  was  from  the  English  officers  in  the  pleas- 
ant barracks  at  that  place  (a  class  of  gentlemen 
who  had  made  every  hour  of  our  visit  memorable 
by  their  hospitality  and  friendship) ;  and,  with 
"  Rule  Britannia  "  sounding  in  our  ears,  we  soon  left 
it  far  behind. 

But  Canada  has  held,  and  always  will  retain,  a 
foremost  place  in  my  remembrance.  Few  English- 
men are  prepared  to  find  it  what  it  is.  Advancing 
quietly ;  old  differences  settling  down,  and  being 
fast  forgotten ;  public  feeling  and  private  enterprise 
alike  in  a  sound  and  wholesome  state ;  nothing  of 
flush  or  fever  in  its  system,  but  health  and  vigor 
throbbing  in  its  steady  pulse :  it  is  full  of  hope  and 
promise.  To  me  —  who  had  been  accustomed  to 
think  of  it  as  something  left  behind  in  the  strides 
of  advancing  society,  as  something  neglected  and 
forgotten,  slumbering  and  wasting  in  its  sleep  —  the 
demand  for  labor  and  the  rates  of  wages ;  the  busy 
quays  of  Montreal ;  the  vessels  taking  in  their  car- 
goes, and  discharging  them ;  the  amount  of  shipping 
in  the  different  ports;  the  commerce,  roads,  and 
public  works,  all  made  to  last;  the  respectability 


FOR   GENERAL   CIRCULATION.  309 

and  character  of  the  public  journals ;  and  the 
amount  of  rational  comfort  and  happiness  which 
honest  industry  may  earn :  were  very  great  sur- 
prises. The  steamboats  on  the  lakes,  in  their  con- 
veniences, cleanliness,  and  safety;  in  the  gentle- 
manly character  and  bearing  of  their  captains ;  and 
in  the  politeness  and  perfect  comfort  of  their  social 
regulations ;  are  unsurpassed  even  by  the  famous 
Scotch  vessels,  deservedly  so  much  esteemed  at 
home.  The  inns  are  usually  bad ;  because  the 
custom  of  boarding  at  hotels  is  not  so  general  here 
as  in  the  States,  and  the  British  officers,  who  form 
a  large  portion  of  the  society  of  every  town,  live 
chiefly  at  the  regimental  messes :  but,  in  every  other 
respect,  the  traveller  in  Canada  will  find  as  good 
provision  for  his  comfort  as  in  any  place  I  know. 

There  is  one  American  boat  —  the  vessel  which 
carried  us  on  Lake  Champlain,  from  St.  John's  to 
Whitehall  —  which  I  praise  very  highly,  but  no 
more  than  it  deserves,  when  I  say  that  it  is  superior 
even  to  that  in  which  we  went  from  Queenston  to 
Toronto,  or  to  that  in  which  we  travelled  from  the 
latter  place  to  Kingston,  or,  I  have  no  doubt  I  may 
add,  to  any  other  in  the  world.  This  steamboat, 
which  is  called  the  Burlington,  is  a  perfectly  exqui- 
site achievement  of  neatness,  elegance,  and  order. 
The  decks  are  drawing-rooms ;  the  cabins  are  bou- 
doirs, choicely  furnished  and  adorned  with  prints, 
pictures,  and  musical  instruments ;  every  nook  and 
corner  in  the  vessel  is  a  perfect  curiosity  of  grace- 
ful comfort  and  beautiful  contrivance.  Captain 
Sherman,  her  commander,  to  whose  ingenuity  and 
excellent  taste  these  results  are  solely  attributable, 
has  bravely  and  worthily  distinguished  himself  on 


310  AMERICAN   NOTES 

more  than  one  trying  occasion:  not  least  among 
them  in  having  the  moral  courage  to  carry  British 
troops,  at  a  time  (during  the  Canadian  rebellion) 
when  no  other  conveyance  was  open  to  them.  He 
and  his  vessel  are  held  in  universal  respect,  both  by 
his  own  countrymen  and  ours ;  and  no  man  ever 
enjoyed  the  popular  esteem,  who,  in  his  sphere  of 
action,  won  and  wore  it  better  than  this  gentleman. 

By  means  of  this  floating  palace  we  were  soon  in 
the  United  States  again,  and  called  that  evening  at 
Burlington ;  a  pretty  town,  where  we  lay  an  hour  or 
so.  We  reached  Whitehall,  where  we  were  to  dis- 
embark, at  six  next  morning ;  and  might  have  done 
so  earlier,  but  that  these  steamboats  lie  by  for  some 
hours  in  the  night,  in  consequence  of  the  lake  be- 
coming very  narrow  at  that  part  of  the  journey,  and 
difficult  of  navigation  in  the  dark.  Its  width  is  so 
contracted  at  one  point,  indeed,  that  they  are  obliged 
to  warp  round  by  meaus  of  a  rope. 

After  breakfasting  at  Whitehall,  we  took  the 
stage-coach  for  Albany :  a  large  and  busy  town, 
where  we  arrived  between  five  and  six  o'clock  that 
afternoon ;  after  a  very  hot  day's  journey,  for  we 
were  now  in  the  height  of  summer  again.  At  seven 
we  started  for  New  York  on  board  a  great  North 
River  steamboat,  which  was  so  crowded  with  pass- 
engers that  the  upper  deck  was  like  the  box  lobby 
of  a  theatre  between  the  pieces,  and  the  lower  one 
like  Tottenham  Court  Koad  on  a  Saturday  night. 
But  we  slept  soundly,  notwithstanding,  and  soon 
after  five  o'clock  next  morning  reached  New  York. 

Tarrying  here  only  that  day  and  night  to  recruit 
after  our  late  fatigues,  we  started  off  once  more 
upon  our  last  journey  in  America.  We  had  yet 


FOR   GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  311 

five  days  to  spare  before  embarking  for  England, 
and  I  had  a  great  desire  to  see  "  the  Shaker  Vil- 
lage," which  is  peopled  by  a  religious  sect  from 
whom  it  takes  its  name. 

To  this  end,  we  went  up  the  North  Eiver  again 
as  far  as  the  town  of  Hudson,  and  there  hired  an 
extra  to  carry  us  to  Lebanon,  thirty  miles  distant : 
and  of  course  another  and  a  different  Lebanon  from 
that  village  where  I  slept  on  the  night  of  the1 
Prairie  trip. 

The  country  through  which  the  road  meandered 
was  rich  and  beautiful ;  the  weather  very  fine  ;  and 
for  many  miles  the  Kaatskill  Mountains,  where  Rip 
Van  Winkle  and  the  ghastly  Dutchmen  played  at 
ninepins  one  memorable  gusty  afternoon,  towered  in 
the  blue  distance  like  stately  clouds.  At  one  point, 
as  we  ascended  a  steep  hill,  athwart  whose  base  a 
railroad,  yet  constructing,  took  its  course,  we  came 
upon  an  Irish  colony.  With  means  at  hand  of 
building  decent  cabins,  it  was  wonderful  to  see  how 
clumsy,  rough,  and  wretched  its  hovels  were.  The 
best  were  poor  protection  from  the  weather ;  the 
worst  let  in  the  wind  and  rain  through  wide  breaches 
in  the  roofs  of  sodden  grass,  and  in  the  walls  of 
mud;  some  had  neither  door  nor  window;  some 
had  nearly  fallen  down,  and  were  imperfectly 
propped  up  by  stakes  and  poles ;  all  were  ruinous 
and  filthy.  Hideously  ugly  old  women  and  very 
buxom  young  ones,  pigs,  dogs,  men,  children,  babies, 
pots,  kettles,  dunghills,  vile  refuse,  rank  straw,  and 
standing  water  all  wallowing  together  in  an  insep- 
arable heap,  composed  the  furniture  of  every  dark 
and  dirty  hut. 

Between  nine  and  ten  o'clock  at  night  we  arrived 


312  AMERICAN  NOTES 

at  Lebanon ;  which  is  renowned  for  its  warm  baths, 
and  for  a  great  hotel,  well  adapted,  I  have  no  doubt, 
to  the  gregarious  taste  of  those  seekers  after  health 
or  pleasure  who  repair  here,  but  inexpressibly  com- 
fortless to  me.  We  were  shown  into  an  immense 
apartment,  lighted  by  two  dim  candles,  called  the 
drawing-room  :  from  which  there  was  a  descent,  by 
a  flight  of  steps,  to  another  vast  desert  called  the 
dining-room :  our  bedchambers  were  among  certain 
long  rows  of  little  whitewashed  cells,  which  opened 
from  either  side  of  a  dreary  passage ;  and  were  so 
like  rooms  in  a  prison  that  I  half  expected  to  be 
locked  up  when  I  went  to  bed,  and  listened  invol- 
untarily for  the  turning  of  the  key  on  the  outside. 
There  need  be  baths  somewhere  in  the  neighbor- 
hood, for  the  other  washing  arrangements  were  on 
as  limited  a  scale  as  I  ever  saw,  even  in  America : 
indeed,  these  bedrooms  were  so  very  bare  of  even 
such  common  luxuries  as  chairs,  that  I  should  say 
they  were  not  provided  with  enough  of  anything, 
but  that  I  bethink  myself  of  our  having  been  most 
bountifully  bitten  all  night. 

The  house  is  very  pleasantly  situated,  however, 
and  we  had  a  good  breakfast.  That  done,  we  went 
to  visit  our  place  of  destination,  which  was  some 
two  miles  off,  and  the  way  to  which  was  soon  indi- 
cated by  a  finger-post,  whereon  was  painted,  "  To 
the  Shaker  Village." 

As  we  rode  along,  we  passed  a  party  of  Shakers, 
who  were  at  work  upon  the  road ;  who  wore  the 
broadest  of  all  broad-brimmed  hats ;  and  were  in  all 
visible  respects  such  very  wooden  men,  that  I  felt 
about  as  much  sympathy  for  them,  and  as  much 
interest  in  them,  as  if  they  had  been  so  many  figure- 


FOR   GENERAL   CIRCULATION.  313 

heads  of  ships.  Presently  we  came  to  the  begin- 
ning of  the  village,  and,  alighting  at  the  door  of  a 
house  where  the  Shaker  manufactures  are  sold,  and 
which  is  the  headquarters  of  the  elders,  requested 
permission  to  see  the  Shaker  worship. 

Pending  the  conveyance  of  this  request  to  some 
person  in  authority,  we  walked  into  a  grim  room, 
where  several  grim  hats  were  hanging  on  grim  pegs, 
and  the  time  was  grimly  told  by  a  grim  clock,  which 
uttered  every  tick  with  a  kind  of  struggle,  as  if  it 
broke  the  grim  silence  reluctantly,  and  under  pro- 
test. Ranged  against  the  wall  were  six  or  eight  stiff, 
high-backed  chairs,  and  they  partook  so  strongly  of 
the  general  grimness,  that  one  would  much  rather 
have  sat  on  the  floor  than  incurred  the  smallest  obli- 
gation to  any  of  them. 

Presently,  there  stalked  into  this  apartment  a  grim 
old  Shaker,  with  eyes  as  hard,  and  dull,  and  cold  as 
the  great  round  metal  buttons  on  his  coat  and  waist- 
coat ;  a  sort  of  calm  goblin.  Being  informed  of  our 
desire,  he  produced  a  newspaper  wherein  the  body 
of  elders,  whereof  he  was  a  member,  had  advertised, 
but  a  few  days  before,  that  in  consequence  of  certain 
unseemly  interruptions  which  their  worship  had 
received  from  strangers,  their  chapel  was  closed  to 
the  public  for  the  space  of  one  year. 

As  nothing  was  to  be  urged  in  opposition  to  this 
reasonable  arrangement,  we  requested  leave  to  make 
some  trifling  purchases  of  Shaker  goods;  which 
was  grimly  conceded.  We  accordingly  repaired 
to  a  store  in  the  same  house,  and  on  the  opposite 
side  of  the  passage,  where  the  stock  was  presided 
over  by  something  alive  in  a  russet  case,  which 
the  elder  said  was  a  woman;  and  which  I  sup- 


314  -AMERICAN   NOTES 

pose  was  a  woman,  though  I  should  not  have  sus- 
pected it. 

On  the  opposite  side  of  the  road  was  their  place 
of  worship :  a  cool,  clean  edifice  of  wood,  with  large 
windows  and  green  blinds  :  like  a  spacious  summer- 
house.  As  there  was  no  getting  into  this  place,  and 
nothing  was  to  be  done  but  walk  up  and  down,  and 
look  at  it  and  the  other  buildings  in  the  village 
(which  were  chiefly  of  wood,  painted  a  dark  red  like 
English  barns,  and  composed  of  many  stories  like 
English  factories),  I  have  nothing  to  communicate 
to  the  reader  beyond  the  scanty  results  I  gleaned 
the  while  our  purchases  were  making. 

These  people  are  called  Shakers  from  their  pecul- 
iar form  of  adoration,  which  consists  of  a  dance, 
performed  by  the  men  and  women  of  all  ages,  who 
arrange  themselves  for  that  purpose  in  opposite  par- 
ties :  the  men  first  divesting  themselves  of  their 
hats  and  coats,  which  they  gravely  hang  against  the 
wall  before  they  begin;  and  tying  a  ribbon  round 
their  shirt-sleeves,  as  though  they  were  going  to  be 
bled.  They  accompany  themselves  with  a  droning, 
humming  noise,  and  dance  until  they  are  quite  ex- 
hausted, alternately  advancing  and  retiring  in  a  pre- 
posterous sort  of  trot.  The  effect  is  said  to  be 
unspeakably  absurd :  and  if  I  may  judge  from  a 
print  of  this  ceremony  which  I  have  in  my  posses- 
sion ;  and  which,  I  am  informed  by  those  who  have 
visited  the  chapel,  is  perfectly  accurate  ;  it  must  be 
infinitely  grotesque. 

They  are  governed  by  a  woman,  and  her  rule  is 
understood  to  be  absolute,  though  she  has  'the  assist- 
ance of  a  council  of  elders.  She  lives,  it  is  said,  in 
strict  seclusion,  in  certain  rooms  above  the  chapel, 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  315 

and  is  never  shown  to  profane  eyes.  If  she  at  all 
resemble  the  lady  who  presided  over  the  store,  it  is 
a  great  charity  to  keep  her  as  close  as  possible,  and 
I  cannot  too  strongly  express  my  perfect  concurrence 
in  this  benevolent  proceeding. 

All  the  possessions  and  revenues  of  the  settlement 
are  thrown  into  a  common  stock,  which  is  managed 
by  the  elders.  As  they  have  made  converts  among 
people  who  were  well  to  do  in  the  world,  and  are 
frugal  and  thrifty,  it  is  understood  that  this  fund 
prospers :  the  more  especially  as  they  have  made 
large  purchases  of  land.  Nor  is  this  at  Lebanon 
the  only  Shaker  settlement :  there  are,  I  think,  at 
least  three  others. 

They  are  good  farmers,  and  all  their  produce  is 
eagerly  purchased  and  highly  esteemed.  "  Shaker 
seeds,"  " Shaker  herbs,"  and  "Shaker  distilled 
waters "  are  commonly  announced  for  sale  in  the 
shops  of  towns  and  cities.  They  are  good  breeders 
of  cattle,  and  are  kind  and  merciful  to  the  brute 
creation.  Consequently,  Shaker  beasts  seldom  fail 
to  find  a  ready  market. 

They  eat  and  drink  together,  after  the  Spartan 
model,  at  a  great  public  table.  There  is  no  union 
of  the  sexes ;  and  every  Shaker,  male  and  female, 
is  devoted  to  a  life  of  celibacy.  Eumor  has  been 
busy  upon  this  theme,  but  here  again  I  must  refer 
to  the  lady  of  the  store,  and  say,  that  if  many  of 
the  sister  Shakers  resemble  her,  I  treat  all  such 
slander  as  bearing  on  its  face  the  strongest  marks 
of  wild  improbability.  But  that  they  take  as  prose- 
lytes persons  so  young  that  they  cannot  know  their 
own  minds,  and  cannot  possess  much  strength  of 
resolution  in  this  or  any  other  respect,  I  can  assert 


316  AMERICAN  NOTES 

from  my  own  observation  of  the  extreme  juvenility 
of  certain  youthful  Shakers  whom  I  saw  at  work 
among  the  party  on  the  road.  , 

They  are  said  to  be  good  drivers  of  bargains,  but 
to  be  honest  and  just  in  their  transactions,  and  even 
in  horse-dealing  to  resist  those  thievish  tendencies 
which  would  seem,  for  some  undiscovered  reason,  to 
be  almost  inseparable  from  that  branch  of  traffic. 
In  all  matters  they  hold  their  own  course  quietly, 
live  in  their  gloomy,  silent  commonwealth,  and  show 
little  desire  to  interfere  with  other  people. 

This  is  well  enough,  but  nevertheless  I  cannot,  I 
confess,  incline  towards  the  Shakers  ;  view  them 
with  much  favor,  or  extend  towards  them  any  very 
lenient  construction.  I  so  abhor,  and  from  my  soul 
detest,  that  bad  spirit,  no  matter  by  what  class  or 
sect  it  may  be  entertained,  which  would  strip  life 
of  its  healthful  graces,  rob  youth  of  its  innocent 
pleasures,  pluck  from  maturity  and  age  their  pleas- 
ant ornaments,  and  make  existence  but  a  narrow 
path  to\vards  the  grave :  that  odious  spirit  which,  if 
it  could  have  had  full  scope  and  sway  upon  the 
earth,  must  have  blasted  and  made  barren  the  ima- 
ginations of  the  greatest  men,  and  left  them,  in  their 
power  of  raising  up  enduring  images  before  their 
fellow-creatures  yet  unborn,  no  better  than  the 
beasts  :  that,  in  these  very  broad-brimmed  hats  and 
very  sombre  coats  —  in  stiff-necked,  solemn-visaged 
piety,  in  short,  no  matter  what  its  garb,  whether  it 
have  cropped  hair  as  in  a  Shaker  village,  or  long 
nails  as  in  a  Hindu  temple  —  I  recognize  the  worst 
among  the  enemies  of  Heaven  and  Earth,  who  turn 
the  water  at  the  marriage  feasts  of  this  poor  world, 
not  into  wine,  but  gall.  And  if  there  must  be 


FOR   GENERAL   CIRCULATION.  317 

people  vowed  to  crush  the  harmless  fancies  and  the 
love  of  innocent  delights  and  gayeties,  which  are  a 
part  of  human  nature :  as  much  a  part  of  it  as  any 
other  love  or  hope  that  is  our  common  portion :  let 
them,  for  me,  stand  openly  revealed  among  the 
ribald  and  licentious;  the  very  idiots  know  that 
they  are  not  on  the  Immortal  road,  and  will  despise 
them,  and  avoid  them  readily. 

Leaving  the  Shaker  village  with  a  hearty  dislike 
of  the  old  Shakers,  and  a  hearty  pity  for  the  young 
ones :  tempered  by  the  strong  probability  of  their 
running  away  as  they  grow  older  and  wiser,  which 
they  not  uncommonly  do :  we  returned  to  Lebanon, 
and  so  to  Hudson,  by  the  way  we  had  come  upon 
the  previous  day.  There  we  took  steamboat  down 
the  North  Kiver  towards  New  York,  but  stopped, 
some  four  hours'  journey  short  of  it,  at  West  Point, 
where  we  remained  that  night,  and  all  next  day,  and 
next  night  too. 

In  this  beautiful  place  :  the  fairest  among  the  fair 
and  lovely  Highlands  of  the  North  River :  shut  in. 
by  deep  green  heights  and  ruined  forts,  and  looking 
down  upon  the  distant  town  of  Newburgh,  along  a 
glittering  path  of  sunlit  water,  with  here  and  there 
a  skiff,  whose  white  sail  often  bends  on  some  new 
tack  as  sudden  flaws  of  wind  come  down  upon  her 
from  the  gullies  in  the  hills :  hemmed  in,  besides, 
all  round,  with  memories  of  Washington  and  events 
of  the  revolutionary  war :  is  the  Military  School  of 
America. 

It  could  not  stand  on  more  appropriate  ground, 
and  any  ground  more  beautiful  can  hardly  be.  The 
course  of  education  is  severe,  but  well  devised  and 
manly.  Through  June,  July,  and  August,  the  young 


318  AMERICAN  NOTES. 

men  encamp  upon  the  spacious  plain  whereon  the 
college  stands ;  and  all  the  year  their  military  exer- 
cises are  performed  there  daily.  The  term  of  study 
at  this  institution,  which  the  State  requires  from  all 
cadets,  is  four  years ;  but,  whether  it  be  from  the 
rigid  nature  of  the  discipline,  or  the  national  impa- 
tience of  restraint,  or  both  causes  combined,  not 
more  than  half  the  number  who  begin  their  studies 
here  ever  remain  to  finish  them. 

The  number  of  cadets  being  about  equal  to  that 
of  the  members  of  Congress,  one  is  sent  here  from 
every  Congressional  district:  its  members  influen- 
cing the  selection.  Commissions  in  the  service  are 
distributed  on  the  same  principle.  The  dwellings 
of  the  various  Professors  are  beautifully  situated; 
and  there  is  a  most  excellent  hotel  for  strangers, 
though  it  has  the  two  drawbacks  of  being  a  total- 
abstinence  house  (wines  and  spirits  being  forbidden 
to  the  students),  and  of  serving  the  public  meals  at 
rather  uncomfortable  hours;  to  wit,  breakfast  at 
seven,  dinner  at  one,  and  supper  at  sunset. 

The  beauty  and  freshness  of  this  calm  retreat,  in 
the  very  dawn  and  greenness  of  summer  —  it  was 
then  the  beginning  of  June  —  were  exquisite  indeed. 
Leaving  it  upon  the  sixth,  and  returning  to  New 
York,  to  embark  for  England  on  the  succeeding 
day,  I  was  glad  to  think  that  among  the  last  memo- 
rable beauties  which  had  glided  past  us,  and  softened 
in  the  bright  perspective,  were  those  whose  pictures, 
traced  by  no  common  hand,  are  fresh  in  most  men's 
minds ;  not  easily  to  grow  old,  or  fade  beneath  the 
dust  of  Time:  the  Kaatskill  Mountains,  Sleepy 
Hollow,  and  the  Tappaan  Zee. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

THE    PASSAGE    HOME. 

I  NEVER  had  so  much  interest  before,  and  very 
likely  I  shall  never  have  so  much  interest  again,  in 
the  state  of  the  wind  as  on  the  long-looked-for 
morning  of  Tuesday,  the  Seventh  of  June.  Some 
nautical  authority  had  told  me,  a  day  or  two  pre- 
vious, "  Anything  with  west  in  it  will  do ; "  so  when 
I  darted  out  of  bed  at  daylight,  and,  throwing  up 
the  window,  was  saluted  by  a  lively  breeze  from  the 
northwest,  which  had  sprung  up  in  the  night,  it 
came  upon  me  so  freshly,  rustling  with  so  many 
happy  associations,  that  I  conceived  upon  the  spot 
a  special  regard  for  all  airs  blowing  from  that  quar- 
ter of  the  compass,  which  I  shall  cherish,  I  dare 
say,  until  my  own  wind  has  breathed  its  last  frail 
puff,  and  withdrawn  itself  forever  from  the  mortal 
calendar. 

The  pilot  had  not  been  slow  to  take  advantage  of 
this  favorable  weather,  and  the  ship,  which  yester- 
day had  been  in  such  a  crowded  dock  that  she 
might  have  retired  from  trade  for  good  and  all,  for 
any  chance  she  seemed  to  have  of  going  to  sea,  was 
now  full  sixteen  miles  away.  A  gallant  sight  she  was, 
when  we,  fast  gaining  on  her  in  a  steamboat,  saw 
319 


320  AMERICAN  NOTES 

her  in  the  distance  riding  at  anchor ;  her  tall  masts 
pointing  up  in  graceful  lines  against  the  sky,  and 
every  rope  and  spar  expressed  in  delicate  and  thread- 
like outline :  gallant,  too,  when,  we  being  all  aboard, 
the  anchor  came  up  to  the  sturdy  chorus,  "  Cheerily, 
men,  oh,  cheerily  ! "  and  she  followed  proudly  in  the 
towing  steamboat's  wake :  but  bravest  and  most 
gallant  of  all  when  the  tow-rope  being  cast  adrift, 
the  canvas  fluttered  from  her  masts,  and,  spreading 
her  white  wings,  she  soared  away  upon  her  free  and 
solitary  course. 

In  the  after-cabin  we  were  only  fifteen  passengers 
in  all,  and  the  greater  part  were  from  Canada,  where 
some  of  us  had  known  each  other.  The  night  was 
rough  and  squally,  so  were  the  next  two  days,  but 
they  flew  by  quickly,  and  we  were  soon  as  cheerful 
and  as  snug  a  party,  with  an  honest,  manly -hearted 
captain  at  our  head,  as  ever  came  to  the  resolution 
of  being  mutually  agreeable,  on  land  or  water. 

We  breakfasted  at  eight,  lunched  at  twelve, 
dined  at  three,  and  took  our  tea  at  half-past  seven. 
We  had  abundance  of  amusements,  and  dinner  was 
not  the  least  among  them :  firstly,  for  its  own  sake ; 
secondly,  because  of  its  extraordinary  length :  its 
duration,  inclusive  of  all  the  long  pauses  between 
the  courses,  being  seldom  less  than  two  hours  and  a 
half;  which  was  a  subject  of  never-failing  entertain- 
ment. By  way  of  beguiling  the  tediousness  of  these 
banquets,  a  select  association  was  formed  at  the 
lower  end  of  the  table,  below  the  mast,  to  whose 
distinguished  president  modesty  forbids  me  to  make 
any  further  allusion,  which,  being  a  very  hilarious 
and  jovial  institution,  was  (prejudice  apart)  in  high 
favor  with  the  rest  of  the  community,  and  particu- 


FOR   GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  321 

larly  with  a  black  steward,  who  lived  for  three 
weeks  in  a  broad  grin  at  the  marvellous  humor  of 
these  incorporated  worthies. 

Then  we  had  chess  for  those  who  played  it,  whist, 
cribbage,  books,  backgammon,  and  shovelboard.  In 
all  weathers,  fair  or  foul,  calm  or  windy,  we  were 
every  one  on  deck,  walking  up  and  down  in  pairs, 
lying  in  the  boats,  leaning  over  the  side,  or  chatting 
in  a  lazy  group  together.  We  had  no  lack  of  music, 
for  one  played  the  accordion,  another  the  violin, 
and  another  (who  usually  began  at  six  o'clock  A.M.) 
the  key-bugle :  the  combined  effect  of  which  instru- 
ments, when  they  all  played  different  tunes,  in 
different  parts  of  the  ship,  at  the  same  time,  and 
within  hearing  of  each  other,  as  they  sometimes  did 
(everybody  being  intensely  satisfied  with  his  own 
performance),  was  sublimely  hideous. 

When  all  these  means  of  entertainment  failed,  a 
sail  would  heave  in  sight;  looming,  perhaps,  the 
very  spirit  of  a  ship,  in  the  misty  distance,  or  pass- 
ing us  so  close  that  through  our  glasses  we  could 
see  the  people  on  her  decks,  and  easily  make  out 
her  name,  and  whither  she  was  bound.  For  hours 
together  we  could  watch  the  dolphins  and  porpoises 
as  they  rolled  and  leaped  and  dived  around  the 
vessel ;  or  those  small  creatures  ever  on  the  wing, 
the  Mother  Carey's  chickens,  which  had  borne  us 
company  from  New  York  Bay,  and  for  a  whole  fort- 
night fluttered  about  the  vessel's  stern.  For  some 
days  we  had  a  dead  calm,  or  very  light  winds, 
during  which  the  crew  amused  themselves  with 
fishing,  and  hooked  an  unlucky  dolphin,  who  ex- 
pired, in  all  his  rainbow  colors,  on  the  deck :  an  event 
of  such  importance  in  our  barren  calendar,  that 
21 


322  AMERICAN   NOTES 

afterwards  we  dated  from  the  dolphin,  and  made 
the  day  on  which  he  died  an  era. 

Besides  all  this,  when  we  were  five  or  six  days 
out,  there  began  to  be  much  talk  of  icebergs,  of 
which  wandering  islands  an  unusual  number  had 
been  seen  by  the  vessels  that  had  come  into  New 
York  a  day  or  two  before  we  left  that  port,  and  of 
whose  dangerous  neighborhood  we  were  warned  by 
the  sudden  coldness  of  the  weather,  and  the  sinking 
of  the  mercury  in  the  barometer.  While  these 
tokens  lasted,  a  double  lookout  was  kept,  and  many 
dismal  tales  were  whispered,  after  dark,  of  ships 
that  had  struck  upon  the  ice  and  gone  down  in  the 
night ;  but  the  wind  obliging  us  to  hold  a  southward 
course,  we  saw  none  of  them,  and  the  weather  soon 
grew  bright  and  warm  again. 

The  observation  every  day  at  noon,  and  the  sub- 
sequent working  of  the  vessel's  course,  was,  as  may 
be  supposed,  a  feature  in  our  lives  of  paramount 
importance ;  nor  were  there  wanting  (as  there  never 
are)  sagacious  doubters  of  the  captain's  calculations, 
who,  so  soon  as  his  back  was  turned,  would,  in  the 
absence  of  compasses,  measure  the  chart  with  bits 
of  string,  and  ends  of  pocket-handkerchiefs,  and 
points  of  snuffers,  and  clearly  prove  him  to  be 
wrong  by  an  odd  thousand  miles  or  so.  It  was  very 
edifying  to  see  these  unbelievers  shake  their  heads 
and  frown,  and  hear  them  hold  forth  strongly  upon 
navigation :  not  that  they  knew  anything  about  it, 
but  that  they  always  mistrusted  the  captain  in  calm 
weather,  or  when  the  wind  was  adverse.  Indeed, 
the  mercury  itself  is  not  so  variable  as  this  class 
of  passengers,  whom  you  will  see,  when  the  ship  is 
going  nobly  through  the  water,  quite  pale  with 


FOR   GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  323 

admiration,  swearing  that  the  captain  beats  all 
captains  ever  known,  and  even  hinting  at  subscrip- 
tions for  a  piece  of  plate ;  and  who,  next  morning, 
when  the  breeze  has  lulled,  and  all  the  sails  hang 
useless  in  the  idle  air,  shake  their  despondent  heads 
again,  and  say,  with  screwed-up  lips,  they  hope  that 
the  captain  is  a  sailor  —  but  they  shrewdly  doubt  him. 

It  even  became  an  occupation  in  the  calm  to 
wonder  when  the  wind  would  spring  up  in  the  favor- 
able quarter,  where,  it  was  clearly  shown  by  all  the 
rules  and  precedents,  it  ought  to  have  sprung  up 
long  ago.  The  first  mate,  who  whistled  for  it  zeal- 
ously, was  much  respected  for  his  perseverance,  and 
was  regarded,  even  by  the  unbelievers,  as  a  first-rate 
sailor.  Many  gloomy  looks  would  be  cast  upward 
through  the  cabin  skylights  at  the  flapping  sails 
while  dinner  was  in  progress ;  and  some,  growing 
bold  in  ruefulness,  predicted  that  we  should  land 
about  the  middle  of  July.  There  are  always  on 
board  ship  a  Sanguine  One  and  a  Despondent  One. 
The  latter  character  carried  it  hollow  at  this  period 
of  the  voyage,  and  triumphed  over  the  Sanguine 
One  at  every  meal,  by  inquiring  where  he  supposed 
the  Great  Western  (which  left  New  York  a  week 
after  us)  was  now:  and  where  he  supposed  the 
Cunard  steam-packet  was  now :  and  what  he  thought 
of  sailing  vessels  as  compared  with  steamships  now : 
and  so  beset  his  life  with  pestilent  attacks  of  that 
kind,  that  he,  too,  was  obliged  to  affect  despondency 
for  very  peace  and  quietude. 

These  were  additions  to  the  list  of  entertaining 
incidents,  but  there  was  still  another  source  of  in- 
terest. We  carried  in  the  steerage  nearly  a  hundred 
passengers :  a  little  world  of  poverty :  and,  as  we 


324  AMERICAN  NOTES 

came  to  know  individuals  among  them  by  sight, 
from  looking  down  upon  the  deck  where  they  took 
the  air  in  the  daytime,  and  cooked  their  food,  and 
very  often  ate  it  too,  we  became  curious  to  know 
their  histories,  and  with  what  expectations  they  had 
gone  out  to  America,  and  on  what  errands  they 
were  going  home,  and  what  their  circumstances 
were.  The  information  we  got  on  these  heads  from 
the  carpenter,  who  had  charge  of  these  people,  was 
often  of  the  strangest  kind.  Some  of  them  had 
been  in  America  but  three  days,  some  but  three 
months,  and  some  had  gone  out  in  the  last  voyage 
of  that  very  ship  in  which  they  were  now  returning 
home.  Others  had  sold  their  clothes  to  raise  the 
passage-money,  and  had  hardly  rags  to  cover  them ; 
others  had  no  food,  and  lived  upon  the  charity  of 
the  rest :  and  one  man,  it  was  discovered  nearly  at 
the  end  of  the  voyage,  not  before  —  for  he  kept  his 
secret  close,  and  did  not  court  compassion  —  had 
had  no  sustenance  whatever  but  the  bones  and 
scraps  of  fat  he  took  from  the  plates  used  in  the 
after-cabin  dinner,  when  they  were  put  out  to  be 
washed. 

The  whole  system  of  shipping  and  conveying 
these  unfortunate  persons  is  one  that  stands  in 
need  of  thorough  revision.  If  any  class  deserve  to 
be  protected  and  assisted  by  the  Government,  it  is 
that  class  who .  are  banished  from  their  native  land 
in  search  of  the  bare  means  of  subsistence.  All 
that  could  be  done  for  these  poor  people  by  the 
great  compassion  and  humanity  of  the  captain  and 
officers  was  done,  but  they  require  much  more.  The 
law  is  bound,  at  least  upon  the  English  side,  to  see 
that  too  many  of  them  are  not  put  on  board  one 


FOR   GENERAL   CIRCULATION.  325 

ship :  and  that  their  accommodations  are  decent : 
not  demoralizing  and  profligate.  It  is  bound,  too, 
in  common  humanity,  to  declare  that  no  man  shall 
be  taken  on  board  without  his  stock  of  provisions 
being  previously  inspected  by  some  proper  officer, 
and  pronounced  moderately  sufficient  for  his  sup- 
port upon  the  voyage.  It  is  bound  to  provide,  or  to 
require  that  there  be  provided,  a  medical  attendant ; 
whereas  in  these  ships  there  are  none,  though  sick- 
ness of  adults,  and  deaths  of  children,  on  the  pass- 
age are  matters  of  the  very  commonest  occurrence. 
Above  all,  it  is  the  duty  of  any  Government,  be  it 
monarchy  or  republic,  to  interpose  and  put  an  end 
to  that  system  by  which  a  firm  of  traders  in  emi- 
grants purchase  of  the  owners  the  whole  'tween- 
decks  of  a  ship,  and  send  on  board  as  many 
wretched  people  as  they  can  lay  hold  of,  on  any 
terms  they  can  get,  without  the  smallest  reference 
to  the  conveniences  of  the  steerage,  the  number  of 
berths,  the  slightest  separation  of  the  sexes,  or  any- 
thing but  their  own  immediate  profit.  Nor  is  even 
this  the  worst  of  the  vicious  system :  for,  certain 
crimping  agents  of  these  houses,  who  have  a  per- 
centage on  all  the  passengers  they  inveigle,  are  con- 
stantly travelling  about  those  districts  where  poverty 
and  discontent  are  rife,  and  tempting  the  credulous 
into  more  misery,  by  holding  out  monstrous  induce- 
ments to  emigration  which  can  never  be  realized. 

The  history  of  every  family  we  had  on  board  was 
pretty  much  the  same.  After  hoarding  up,  and 
borrowing,  and  begging,  and  selling  everything  to 
pay  the  passage,  they  had  gone  out  to  New  York, 
expecting  to  find  its  streets  paved  with  gold ;  and 
had  found  them  paved  with  very  hard  and  very  real 


326  AMERICAN  NOTES 

stones.  Enterprise  was  dull ;  laborers  were  not 
wanted ;  jobs  of  work  were  to  be  got,  but  the  pay- 
ment was  not.  They  were  coming  back,  even  poorer 
than  they  went.  One  of  them  was  carrying  an 
open  letter  from  a  young  English  artisan,  who  had 
been  in  New  York  a  fortnight,  to  a  friend  near 
Manchester,  whom  he  strongly  urged  to  follow  him. 
One  of  the  officers  brought  it  to  me  as  a  curiosity. 
"This  is  the  country,  Jem,"  said  the  writer.  "I 
like  America.  There  is  no  despotism  here ;  that's 
the  great  thing.  Employment  of  all  sorts  is  going 
a-begging,  and  wages  are  capital.  You  have  only 
to  choose  a  trade,  Jem,  and  be  it.  I  haven't  made 
choice  of  one  yet,  but  I  shall  soon.  At  present, 
I  haven't  quite  made  up  my  mind  whether  to  be  a 
carpenter  or  a  tailor" 

There  was  yet  another  kind  of  passenger,  and  but 
one  more,  who,  in  the  calm  and  the  light  winds, 
was  a  constant  theme  of  conversation  and  observa- 
tion among  us.  This  was  an  English  sailor,  a  smart, 
thorough-built,  English  man-of-war's  man  from  his 
hat  to  his  shoes,  who  was  serving  in  the  American 
navy,  and,  having  got  leave  of  absence,  was  on  his 
way  home  to  see  his  friends.  When  he  presented 
himself  to  take  and  pay  for  his  passage,  it  had  been 
suggested  to  him  that,  being  an  able  seaman,  he 
might  as  well  work  it  and  save  the  money,  but  this 
piece  of  advice  he  very  indignantly  rejected:  say- 
ing, "  He'd  be  damned  but  for  once  he'd  go  aboard 
ship  as  a  gentleman."  Accordingly,  they  took  his 
money,  but  he  no  sooner  came  aboard  than  he  stowed 
his  kit  in  the  forecastle,  arranged  to  mess  with  the 
crew,  and,  the  very  first  time  the  hands  were  turned 
up,  went  aloft  like  a  cat,  before  anybody.  And  all 


FOR   GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  327 

through  the  passage  there  he  was,  first  at  the  braces, 
outermost  on  the  yards,  perpetualty  lending  a  hand 
everywhere,  but  always  with  a  sober  dignity  in  his 
manner,  and  a  sober  grin  on  his  face,  which  plainly 
said,  "  I  do  it  as  a  gentleman.  For  my  own  pleasure, 
mind  you ! " 

At  length  and  at  last,  the  promised  wind  came  up 
in  right  good  earnest,  and  away  we  went  before  it, 
with  every  stitch  of  canvas  set,  slashing  through 
the  water  nobly.  There  was  a  grandeur  in  the 
motion  of  the  splendid  ship,  as,  overshadowed  by 
her  mass  of  sails,  she  rode  at  a  furious  pace  upon 
the  waves,  which  filled  one  with  an  indescribable 
sense  of  pride  and  exultation.  As  she  plunged  into 
a  foaming  valley,  how  I  loved  to  see  the  green 
waves,  bordered  deep  with  white,  come  rushing  on 
astern,  to  buoy  her  upward  at  their  pleasure,  and 
curl  about  her  as  she  stooped  again,  but  always  own 
her  for  their  haughty  mistress  still !  On,  on  we 
flew,  with  changing  lights  upon  the  water,  being 
now  in  the  blessed  region  of  fleecy  skies ;  a  bright 
sun  lighting  us  by  day,  and  a  bright  moon  by  night ; 
the  vane  pointing  directly  homeward,  alike  the 
truthful  index  to  the  favoring  wind  and  to  our 
cheerful  hearts ;  until  at  sxmrise,  one  fair  Monday 
morning  —  the  twenty -seventh  of  June,  I  shall  not 
easily  forget  the  day  —  there  lay  before  us  old  Cape 
Clear,  God  bless  it,  showing,  in  the  mist  of  early 
morning,  like  a  cloud :  the  brightest  and  most  wel- 
come cloud,  to  us,  that  ever  hid  the  face  of  Heaven's 
fallen  sister  —  Home. 

Dim  speck  as  it  was  in  the  wide  prospect,  it  made 
the  sunrise  a  more  cheerful  sight,  and  gave  to  it 
that  sort  of  human  interest  which  it  seems  to  want 


328  AMERICAN  NOTES 

at  sea.  There,  as  elsewhere,  the  return  of  day  is 
inseparable  from  some  sense  of  renewed  hope  and 
gladness ;  but  the  light  shining  on  the  dreary  waste 
of  water,  and  showing  it  in  all  its  vast  extent  of 
loneliness,  presents  a  solemn  spectacle,  which  even 
night,  veiling  it  in  darkness  and  uncertainty,  does 
not  surpass.  The  rising  of  the  moon  is  more  in 
keeping  with  the  solitary  ocean ;  and  has  an  air  of 
melancholy  grandeur,  which,  in  its  soft  and  gentle 
influence,  seems  to  comfort  while  it  saddens.  I 
recollect,  when  I  was  a  very  young  child,  having  a 
fancy  that  the  reflection  of  the  moon  in  water  was 
a  path  to  heaven,  trodden  by  the  spirits  of  good 
people  on  their  way  to  God ;  and  this  old  feeling 
often  came  over  me  again,  when  I  watched  it  on  a 
tranquil  night  at  sea. 

The  wind  was  very1  light  on  this  same  Monday 
morning,  but  it  was  still  in  the  right  quarter,  and 
so,  by  slow  degrees,  we  left  Cape  Clear  behind,  and 
sailed  along  within  sight  of  the  coast  of  Ireland. 
And  how  merry  we  all  were,  and  how  loyal  to  the 
George  Washington,  and  how  full  of  mutual  con- 
gratulations, and  how  venturesome  in  predicting 
the  exact  hour  at  which  we  should  arrive  at  Liver- 
pool, may  be  easily  imagined  and  readily  understood. 
Also,  how  heartily  we  drank  the  captain's  health 
that  day  at  dinner ;  and  how  restless  we  became 
about  packing  up;  and  how  two  or  three  of  the 
most  sanguine  spirits  rejected  the  idea  of  going  to 
bed  at  all  that  night  as  something  it  was  not  worth 
while  to  do,  so  near  the  shore,  but  went  neverthe- 
less, and  slept  soundly ;  and  how  to  be  so  near  our 
journey's  end  was  like  a  pleasant  dream,  from  which 
one  feared  to  wake. 


FOR   GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  329 

The  friendly  breeze  freshened  again  next  day,  and 
on  we  went  once  more  before  it  gallantly ;  descry- 
ing now  and  then  an  English  ship  going  homeward 
under  shortened  sail,  while  we,  with  every  inch  of 
canvas  crowded  on,  dashed  gayly  past,  and  left  her 
far  behind.  Towards  evening  the  weather  turned 
hazy,  with  a  drizzling  rain;  and  soon  became  so 
thick,  that  we  sailed,  as  it  were,  in  a  cloud.  Still 
we  swept  onward  like  a  phantom  ship,  and  many  an 
eager  eye  glanced  up  to  where  the  Lookout  on  the 
mast  kept  watch  for  Holy  head. 

At  length  his  long-expected  cry  was  heard,  and  at 
the  same  moment  there  shone  out  from  the  haze  and 
mist  ahead  a  gleaming  light,  which  presently  was 
gone,  and  soon  returned,  and  soon  was  gone  again. 
Whenever  it  came  back,  the  eyes  of  all  on  board 
brightened  and  sparkled  like  itself :  and  there  we 
all  stood,  watching  this  revolving  light  upon  the 
rock  at  Holyhead,  and  praising  it  for  its  brightness 
and  its  friendly  warning,  and  lauding  it,  in  short, 
above  all  other  signal  lights  that  ever  were  dis- 
played, until  it  once  more  glimmered  faintly  in  the 
distance,  far  behind  us. 

Then,  it  was  time  to  fire  a  gun  for  a  pilot ;  and, 
almost  before  its  smoke  had  cleared  away,  a  little 
boat  with  a  light  at  her  masthead  came  bearing 
down  upon  us,  through  the  darkness,  swiftly.  And 
presently,  our  sails  being  backed,  she  ran  alongside ; 
and  the  hoarse  pilot,  wrapped  and  muffled  in  pea- 
coats  and  shawls  to  the  very  bridge  of  his  weather- 
ploughed-up  nose,  stood  bodily  among  us  on  the 
deck.  And  I  think,  if  that  pilot  had  wanted  to 
borrow  fifty  pounds  for  an  indefinite  period  on  no 
security,  we  should  have  engaged  to  lend  it  him, 


330  AMERICAN   NOTES. 

among  us,  before  his  boat  had  dropped  astern,  or, 
(which  is  the  same  thing)  before  every  scrap  of  news 
in  the  paper  he  brought  with  him  had  become  the 
common  property  of  all  on  board. 

We  turned  in  pretty  late  that  night,  and  turned 
out  pretty  early  next  morning.  By  six  o' clock  we 
clustered  on  the  deck,  prepared  to  go  ashore ;  and 
looked  upon  the  spires  and  roofs,  and  smoke,  of 
Liverpool.  By  eight  we  all  sat  down  in  one  of  its 
hotels,  to  eat  and  drink  together  for  the  last  time. 
And  by  nine  we  had  shaken  hands  all  round,  and 
broken  up  our  social  company  forever. 

The  country,  by  the  railroad,  seemed,  as  we  rat- 
tled through  it,  like  a  luxuriant  garden.  The  beauty 
-  of  the  fields  (so  small  they  looked !),  the  hedgerows, 
and  the  trees ;  the  pretty  cottages,  the  beds  of  flow- 
ers, the  old  churchyards,  the  antique  houses,  and 
every  well-known  object ;  the  exquisite  delights  of 
that  one  journey  crowding,  in  the  short  compass  of 
a  summer's  day,  the  joy  of  many  years,  and  winding 
up  with  Home,  and  all  that  makes  it  dear ;  no  tongue 
can  tell,  or  pen  of  mine  describe. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

SLAVERY. 

THE  upholders  of  slavery  in  America  —  of  the 
atrocities  of  which  system  I  shall  not  write  one 
word  for  which  I  have  not  ample  proof  and  warrant 
—  may  be  divided  into  three  great  classes. 

The  first  are  those  more  moderate  and  rational 
owners  of  human  cattle  who  have  come  into  the 
possession  of  them  as  so  many  coins  in  their  trad- 
ing capital,  but  who  admit  the  frightful  nature  of 
the  Institution  in  the  abstract,  and  perceive  the 
dangers  to  society  with  which  it  is  fraught :  dan- 
gers which,  however  distant  they  may  be,  or  howso- 
ever tardy  in  their  coming  on,  are  as  certain  to  fall 
upon  its  guilty  head  as  is  the  Day  of  Judgment. 

The  second  consists  of  all  those  owners,  breeders, 
users,  buyers,  and  sellers  of  slaves,  who  will,  until 
the  bloody  chapter  has  a  bloody  end,  own,  breed, 
use,  buy,  and  sell  them  at  all  hazards ;  who  dog- 
gedly deny  the  horrors  of  the  system,  in  the  teeth  of 
such  a  mass  of  evidence  as  never  was  brought  to  bear 
on  any  other  subject,  and  to  which  the  experience 
of  every  day  contributes  its  immense  amount ;  who 
would,  at  this  or  any  other  moment,  gladly  involve 
America  in  a  war,  civil  or  foreign,  provided  that 
331 


332  AMERICAN  NOTES 

it  had  for  its  sole  end  and  object  the  assertion  of 
their  right  to  perpetuate  slavery,  and  to  whip  and 
work  and  torture  slaves,  unquestioned  by  any  human 
authority,  and  unassailed  by  any  human  power ;  who, 
when  they  speak  of  Freedom,  mean  the  Freedom  to 
oppress  their  kind,  and  to  be  savage,  merciless,  and 
cruel ;  and  of  whom  every  man  on  his  own  ground, 
in  Republican  America,  is  a  more  exacting,  and  a 
sterner,  and  a  less  responsible  despot  than  the  Caliph 
Haroun  Alraschid  in  his  angry  robe  of  scarlet. 

The  third,  and  not  the  least  numerous  or  influ- 
ential, is  composed  of  all  that  delicate  gentility 
which  cannot  bear  a  superior,  and  cannot  brook  an 
equal ;  of  that  class  whose  Republicanism  means, 
"  I  will  not  tolerate  a  man  above  me  :  and,  of  those 
below,  none  must  approach  too  near  ;  "  whose  pride, 
in  a  land  where  voluntary  servitude  is  shunned  as 
a  disgrace,  must  be  ministered  to  by  slaves;  and 
whose  inalienable  rights  can  only  have  their  growth 
in  negro  wrongs. 

It  has  been  sometimes  urged  that,  in  the  unavail- 
ing efforts  which  have  been  made  to  advance  the 
cause  of  Human  Freedom  in  the  republic  of  America 
(strange  cause  for  history  to  treat  of!),  sufficient 
regard  has  not  been  had  to  the  existence  of  the  first 
class  of  persons ;  and  it  has  been  contended  that 
they  are  hardly  used,  in  being  confounded  with  the 
second.  This  is,  no  doubt,  the  case ;  noble  instances 
of  pecuniary  and  personal  sacrifice  have  already  had 
their  growth  among  them ;  and  it  is  much  to  be 
regretted  that  the  gulf  between  them  and  the  advo- 
cates of  emancipation  should  have  been  widened 
and  deepened  by  any  means:  the  rather  as  there 
are,  beyond  dispute,  among  these  slave-owners,  many 


FOR   GENERAL   CIRCULATION.  333 

kind  masters  who  are  tender  in  the  exercise  of  their 
unnatural  power.  Still  it  is  to  be  feared  that  this 
injustice  is  inseparable  from  the  state  of  things 
with  which  humanity  and  truth  are  called  upon  to 
deal.  Slavery  is  not  a  whit  the  more  endurable 
because  some  hearts  are  to  be  found  which  can  par- 
tially resist  its  hardening  influences;  nor  can  the 
indignant  tide  of  honest  wrath  stand  still,  because 
in  its  onward  course  it  overwhelms  a  few  who  are 
comparatively  innocent  among  a  host  of  guilty. 

The  ground  most  commonly  taken  by  these  better 
men  among  the  advocates  of  slavery  is  this  c  "  It  is 
a  bad  system  ;  and  for  myself  I  would  willingly  get 
rid  of  it,  if  I  could ;  most  willingly.  But  it  is  not 
so  bad  as  you  in  England  take  it  to  be.  You  are 
deceived  by  the  representations  of  the  emancipa- 
tionists. The  greater  part  of  my  slaves  are  much 
attached  to  me.  You  will  say  that  I  do  not  allow 
them  to  be  severely  treated ;  but  I  will  put  it  to 
you  whether  you  believe  that  it  can  be  a  general 
practice  to  treat  them  inhumanly,  when  it  would 
impair  their  value,  and  would  be  obviously  against 
the  interests  of  their  masters." 

Is  it  the  interest  of  any  man  to  steal,  to  game,  to 
waste  his  health  and  mental  faculties  by  drunken- 
ness, to  lie,  forswear  himself,  indulge  hatred,  seek 
desperate  revenge,  or  do  murder  ?  No.  All  these 
are  roads  to  ruin.  And  why,  then,  do  men  tread 
them  ?  Because  such  inclinations  are  among  the 
vicious  qualities  of  mankind.  Blot  out,  ye  friends 
of  slavery,  from  the  catalogue  of  human  passions, 
brutal  lust,  cruelty,  and  the  abuse  of  irresponsible 
power  (of  all  earthly  temptations  the  most  difficult 
to  be  resisted),  and  when  ye  have  done  so,  and  not 


334  AMERICAN   NOTES 

before,  we  will  inquire  whether  it  be  the  interest  of 
a  master  to  lash  and  maim  the  slaves,  over  whose 
lives  and  limbs  he  has  an  absolute  control ! 

But  again  :  this  class,  together  with  that  last  one 
I  have  named,  the  miserable  aristocracy  spawned  of 
a  false  republic,  lift  up  their  voices  and  exclaim, 
"Public  opinion  is  all-sufficient  to  prevent  such 
cruelty  as  you  denounce."  Public  opinion  !  Why, 
public  opinion  in  the  slave  States  is  slavery,  is  it 
not  ?  Public  opinion  in  the  slave  States  has  deliv- 
ered the  slaves  over  to  the  gentle  mercies  of  their 
masters.  Public  opinion  has  made  the  laws,  and 
denied  the  slaves  legislative  protection.  Public 
opinion  has  knotted  the  lash,  heated  the  branding- 
iron,  loaded  the  rifle,  and  shielded  the  murderer. 
Public  opinion  threatens  the  abolitionist  with  death, 
if  he  venture  to  the  South ;  and  drags  him  with  a 
rope  about  his  middle,  in  broad  unblushing  noon, 
through  the  first  city  in  the  East.  Public  opinion 
has,  within  a  few  years,  burned  a  slave  alive  at  a 
slow  fire  in  the  city  of  St.  Louis ;  and  public  opinion 
has  to  this  day  maintained  upon  the  bench  that 
estimable  Judge  who  charged  the  Jury,  impanelled 
there  to  try  his  murderers,  that  their  most  horrid 
deed  was  an  act  of  public  opinion,  and,  being  so, 
must  not  be  punished  by  the  laws  the  public  senti- 
ment had  made.  Public  opinion  hailed  this  doctrine 
with  a  howl  of  wild  applause,  and  set  the  prisoners 
free,  to  walk  the  city,  men  of  mark,  and  influence, 
and  station,  as  they  had  been  before. 

Public  opinion  !  what  class  of  men  have  an  im- 
mense preponderance  over  the  rest  of  the  community 
in  their  power  of  representing  public  opinion  in  the 
legislature?  The  slave-owners.  They  send  from 


FOR   GENERAL   CIRCULATION.  335 

their  twelve  States  one  hundred  members,  while 
the  fourteen  free  States,  with  a  free  population 
nearly  double,  return  but  a  hundred  and  forty-two. 
Before  whom  do  the  presidential  candidates  bow 
down  the  most  humbly,  on  whom  do  they  fawn  the 
most  fondly,  and  for  whose  tastes  do  they  cater  the 
most  assiduously  in  their  servile  protestations  ? 
The  slave-owners  always. 

Public  opinion !  hear  the  public  opinion  of  the 
free  South  as  expressed  by  its  own  members  in  the 
House  of  Representatives  at  Washington.  "  I  have 
a  great  respect  for  the  chair,"  quoth  North  Caro- 
lina, "  I  have  a  great  respect  for  the  chair  as  an 
officer  of  the  House,  and  a  great  respect  for  him 
personally ;  nothing  but  that  respect  prevents  me 
from  rushing  to  the  table,  and  tearing  that  petition 
which  has  just  been  presented  for  the  abolition  of 
slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia  to  pieces."  —  "I 
warn  the  abolitionists,"  says  South  Carolina,  "  igno- 
rant, infuriated  barbarians  as  they  are,  that  if  chance 
shall  throw  any  of  them  into  our  hands,  he  may 
expect  a  felon's  death."  —  "  Let  an  abolitionist  come 
within  the  borders  of  South  Carolina,"  cries  a  third ; 
mild  Carolina's  colleague  ;  "  and  if  we  can  catch 
him,  we  will  try  him,  and,  notwithstanding  the  inter- 
ference of  all  the  governments  on  earth,  including 
the  Federal  Government,  we  will  HANG  him." 

Public  opinion  has  made  this  law.  —  It  has  declared 
that  in  Washington,  in  that  city  which  takes  its  name 
from  the  father  of  American  liberty,  any  justice  of 
the  peace  may  bind  with  fetters  any  negro  passing 
down  the  street,  and  thrust  him  into  jail :  no  offence 
on  the  black  man's  part  is  necessary.  The  justice 
says,  "  I  choose  to  think  this  man  a  runaway  :  "  and 


336  AMERICAN   NOTES 

locks  him  up.  Public  opinion  empowers  the  man 
of  law,  when  this  is  done,  to  advertise  the  negro  in 
the  newspapers,  warning  his  owner  to  come  and 
claim  him,  or  he  will  be  sold  to  pay  the  jail  fees. 
But  supposing  he  is  a  free  black,  and  has  no  owner, 
it  may  naturally  be  presumed  that  he  is  set  at  liberty. 

No  I    HE    IS    SOLD   TO   RECOMPENSE  HIS  JAILER.       This 

has  been  done  again,  and  again,  and  again.  He  has 
no  means  of  proving  his  freedom ;  has  no  adviser, 
messenger,  or  assistance  of  any  sort  or  kind ;  no 
investigation  into  his  case  is  made,  or  inquiry  insti- 
tuted. He,  a  free  man,  who  may  have  served  for 
years,  and  bought  his  liberty,  is  thrown  into  jail  on 
no  process,  for  no  crime,  and  on  no  pretence  of  crime : 
and  is  sold  to  pay  the  jail  fees.  This  seems  incredi- 
ble, even  of  America,  but  it  is  the  law. 

Public  opinion  is  deferred  to  in  such  cases  as  the 
following ;  which  is  headed  in  the  newspapers  — 

"  Interesting  Law-case. 

"An  interesting  case  is  now  on  trial  in  the  Su- 
preme Court,  arising  out  of  the  following  facts.  A 
gentleman  residing  in  Maryland  had  allowed  an 
aged  pair  of  his  slaves  substantial  though  not  legal 
freedom  for  several  years.  While  thus  living,  a 
daughter  was  born  to  them,  who  grew  up  in  the 
same  liberty,  until  she  married  a  free  negro,  and 
went  with  him  to  reside  in  Pennsylvania.  They 
had  several  children,  and  lived  unmolested  until  the 
original  owner  died,  when  his  heir  attempted  to 
regain  them ;  but  the  magistrate  before  whom  they 
were  brought  decided  that  he  had  no  jurisdiction  in 
the  case.  The  owner  seized  the  woman  and  her  chil- 
dren in  the  night,  and  carried  them  to  Maryland" 


FOR   GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  337 

"Cash  for  negroes,"  "cash  for  negroes,"  "cash 
for  negroes,"  is  the  heading  of  advertisements  in 
great  capitals  down  the  long  columns  of  the  crowded 
journals.  Woodcuts  of  a  runaway  negro  with  man- 
acled hands,  crouching  beneath  a  bluff  pursuer  in 
top-boots,  who,  having  caught  him,  grasps  him  by 
the  throat,  agreeably  diversify  the  pleasant  text. 
The  leading  article  protests  against  "that  abomi- 
nable and  hellish  doctrine  of  abolition,  which  is 
repugnant  alike  to  every  law  of  God  and  nature." 
The  delicate  mamma,  who  smiles  her  acquiescence 
in  this  sprightly  writing  as  she  reads  the  paper  in 
her  cool  piazza,  quiets  her  youngest  child  who  clings 
about  her  skirts  by  promising  the  boy  "  a  whip  to 
beat  the  little  niggers  with."  —  But  the  negroes, 
little  and  big,  are  protected  by  public  opinion. 

Let  us  try  this  public  opinion  by  another  test, 
which  is  important  in  three  points  of  view :  first, 
as  showing  how  desperately  timid  of  the  public 
opinion  slave-owners  are  in  their  delicate  descrip- 
tions of  fugitive  slaves  in  widely  circulated  news- 
papers; secondly,  as  showing  how  perfectly  contented 
the  slaves  are,  and  how  very  seldom  they  run  away ; 
thirdly,  as  exhibiting  their  entire  freedom  from 
scar,  or  blemish,  or  any  mark  of  cruel  infliction,  as 
their  pictures  are  drawn,  not  by  lying  abolitionists, 
but  by  their  own  truthful  masters. 

The  following  are  a  few  specimens  of  the  adver- 
tisements in  the  public  papers.  It  is  only  four 
years  since  the  oldest  among  them  appeared ;  and 
others  of  the  same  nature  continue  to  be  published 
every  day  in  shoals. 

"  Kan  away,  Negress  Caroline.     Had  on  a  collar 
with  one  prong  turned  down." 
22 


338  AMERICAN  NOTES 

"  Ean  away,  a  black  woman,  Betsy.  Had  an  iron 
bar  on  her  right  leg." 

"Ran  away,  the  negro  Manuel.  Much  marked 
with  irons." 

"  Ean  away,  the  negress  Fanny.  Had  on  an  iron 
band  about  her  neck." 

"  Ean  away,  a  negro  boy  about  twelve  years  old, 
Had  round  his  neck  a  chain  dog-collar  with  <De 
Lampert '  engraved  on  it." 

"  Ean  away,  the  negro  Hown.  Has  a  ring  of 
iron  on  his  left  foot.  Also,  Grise,  his  wife,  having 
a  ring  and  chain  on  the  left  leg." 

"  Ean  away,  a  negro  boy  named  James.  Said  boy 
was  ironed  when  he  left  me." 

"  Committed  to  jail,  a  man  who  calls  his  name 
John.  He  has  a  clog  of  iron  on  his  right  foot 
which  will  weigh  four  or  five  pounds." 

"Detained  at  the  police  jail,  the  negro  wench 
Myra.  Has  several  marks  of  LASHING,  and  has 
irons  on  her  feet." 

"Ean  away,  a  negro  woman  and  two  children. 
A  few  days  before  she  went  off,  I  burnt  her  with  a 
hot  iron,  on  the  left  side  of  her  face.  I  tried  to 
make  the  letter  M." 

"  Ean  away,  a  negro  man  named  Henry ;  his  left 
eye  out,  some  scars  from  a  dirk  on  and  under  his 
left  arm,  and  much  scarred  with  the  whip." 

"  One  hundred  dollars  reward,  for  a  negro  fellow, 
Pompey,  40  years  old.  He  is  branded  on  the  left 
jaw." 

"  Committed  to  jail,  a  negro  man.  Has  no  toes 
on  the  left  foot." 

"  Ean  away,  a  negro  woman  named  Eachel.  Has 
lost  all  her  toes  except  the  large  one." 


FOE   GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  339 

"Ran  away,  Sam.  He  was  shot  a  short  time 
since  through  the  hand,  and  has  several  shots  in  his 
left  arm  and  side." 

"  Ran  away,  my  negro  man  Dennis.  Said  negro 
has  been  shot  in  the  left  arm  between  the  shoulder 
and  elbow,  which  has  paralyzed  the  left  hand." 

"Ran  away,  my  negro  man  named  Simon.  He 
has  been  shot  badly,  in  his  back  and  right  arm." 

"Ran  away,  a  negro  named  Arthur.  Has  a  con- 
siderable scar  across  his  breast  and  each  arm,  made 
by  a  knife ;  loves  to  talk  much  of  the  goodness  of 
God." 

"  Twenty -five  dollars  reward  for  my  man  Isaac. 
He  has  a  scar  on  his  forehead,  caused  by  a  blow ; 
and  one  on  his  back,  made  by  a  shot  from  a 
pistol." 

"Ran  away,  a  negro  girl  called  Mary.  Has  a 
small  scar  over  her  eye,  a  good  many  teeth  missing, 
the  letter  A  is  branded  on  her  cheek  and  fore- 
head." 

"  Ran  away,  negro  Ben.  Has  a  scar  on  his  right 
hand;  his  thumb  and  forefinger  being  injured  by 
being  shot  last  fall.  A  part  of  the  bone  came  out. 
He  has  also  one  or  two  large  scars  on  his  back  and 
hips." 

"Detained  at  the  jail,  a  mulatto,  named  Tom. 
Has  a  scar  on  the  right  cheek,  and  appears  to  have 
been  burned  with  powder  on  the  face." 

"  Ran  away,  a  negro  man  named  Ned.  Three  of 
his  fingers  are  drawn  into  the  palm  of  his  hand  by 
a  cut.  Has  a  scar  on  the  back  of  his  neck,  nearly 
half  round,  done  by  a  knife." 

"  Was  committed  to  jail,  a  negro  man.  Says  his 
name  is  Josiah.  His  back  very  much  scarred  by 


340  AMERICAN   NOTES 

the  whip:  and  branded  on  the  thigh  and  hips  in 
three  or  four  places,  thus  (J  M).  The  rim  of  his 
right  ear  has  been  bit  or  cut  off." 

"Fifty  dollars  reward,  for  my  fellow  Edward. 
He  has  a  scar  on  the  corner  of  his  mouth,  two  cuts 
on  and  under  his  arm,  and  the  letter  E  on  his 
arm." 

"  Kan  away,  negro  boy  Ellie.  Has  a  scar  on  one 
of  his  arms  from  the  bite  of  a  dog." 

"Kan  away,  from  the  plantation  of  James  Sur- 
gette,  the  following  negroes :  Kandal,  has  one  ear 
cropped;  Bob,  has  lost  one  eye;  Kentucky  Tom, 
has  one  jaw  broken." 

"Ran  away,  Anthony.  One  of  his  ears  cut  off, 
and  his  left  hand  cut  with  an  axe." 

"  Fifty  dollars  reward  for  the  negro  Jim  Blake. 
Has  a  piece  cut  out  of  each  ear,  and  the  middle 
finger  of  the  left  hand  cut  off  to  the  second 
joint." 

"Ran  away,  a  negro  woman  named  Maria.  Has 
a  scar  on  one  side  of  her  cheek,  by  a  cut.  Some 
scars  on  her  back." 

"  Ran  away,  the  Mulatto  wench  Mary.  Has  a  cut 
on  the  left  arm,  a  scar  on  the  left  shoulder,  and  two 
upper  teeth  missing." 

I  should  say,  perhaps,  in  explanation  of  this  lat- 
ter piece  of  description,  that,  among  the  other  bless- 
ings which  public  opinion  secures  to  the  negroes, 
is  the  common  practice  of  violently  punching  out 
their  teeth.  To  make  them  wear  iron  collars  by 
day  and  night,  and  to  worry  them  with  dogs,  are 
practices  almost  too  ordinary  to  deserve  mention. 

"  Ran  away}  my  man  Fountain.  Has  holes  in  his 
ears,  a  scar  on  the  right  side  of  his  forehead,  has 


FOB   GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  341 

been  shot  in  the  hind  parts  of  his  legs,  and  is 
marked  on  the  back  with  the  whip." 

"Two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  reward  for  my 
negro  man  Jim.  He  is  much  marked  with  shot  in 
his  right  thigh.  The  shot  entered  on  the  outside, 
half-way  between  the  hip  and  knee  joints." 

"  Brought  to  jail,  John.     Left  ear  cropt." 

"  Taken  up,  a  negro  man.  Is  very  much  scarred 
about  the  face  and  body,  and  has  the  left  ear  bit 
off." 

"Kan  away,  a  black  girl  named  Mary.  Has  a 
scar  on  her  cheek,  and  the  end  of  one  of  her  toes 
cut  off." 

"  Ean  away,  my  mulatto  woman,  Judy.  She  has 
had  her  right  arm  broke." 

"  Ean  away,  my  negro  man,  Levi.  His  left  hand 
has  been  burnt,  and  I  think  the  end  of  his  fore- 
finger is  off." 

"Ean  away,  a  negro  man  NAMED  WASHINGTON. 
Has  lost  a  part  of  his  middle  finger,  and  the  end  of 
his  little  finger." 

"Twenty-five  dollars  reward  for  my  man  John. 
The  tip  of  his  nose  is  bit  off." 

"  Twenty-five  dollars  reward  for  the  negro  slave 
Sally.  Walks  as  though  crippled  in  the  back." 

"  Ean  away,  Joe  Dennis.  Has  a  small  notch  in 
one  of  his  ears." 

"  Ean  away,  negro  boy,  Jack.  Has  a  small  crop 
out  of  his  left  ear." 

"  Ean  away,  a  negro  man,  named  Ivory.  Has  a 
small  piece  cut  out  of  the  top  of  each  ear." 

While  upon  the  subject  of  ears,  I  may  observe 
that  a  distinguished  abolitionist  in  New  York  once 
received  a  negro's  ear,  which  had  been  cut  off  close 


342  AMERICAN  NOTES 

to  the  head,  in  a  general  post  letter.  It  was  for- 
warded by  the  free  and  independent  gentleman 
who  had  caused  it  to  be  amputated,  with  a  polite 
request  that  he  would  place  the  specimen  in  his 
"  collection." 

I  could  enlarge  this  catalogue  with  broken 
arms,  and  broken  legs,  and  gashed  flesh,  and  miss- 
ing teeth,  and  lacerated  backs,  and  bites  of  dogs, 
and  brands  of  red-hot  irons  innumerable :  but,  as 
my  readers  will  be  sufficiently  sickened  and  re- 
pelled already,  I  will  turn  to  another  branch  of  the 
subject. 

These  advertisements,  of  which  a  similar  collec- 
tion might  be  made  for  every  year,  and  month,  and 
week,  and  day ;  and  which  are  coolly  read  in  fami- 
lies as  things  of  course,  and  as  a  part  of  the  current 
news  and  small  talk ;  will  serve  to  show  how  very 
much  the  slaves  profit  by  public  opinion,  and  how 
tender  it  is  in  their  behalf.  But  it  may  be  worth 
while  to  inquire  how  the  slave-owners,  and  the  class 
of  society  to  which  great  numbers  of  them  belong, 
defer  to  public  opinion  in  their  conduct,  not  to  their 
slaves,  but  to  each  other ;  how  they  are  accustomed 
to  restrain  their  passions;  what  their  bearing  is 
among  themselves;  whether  they  are  fierce  or  gentle, 
whether  their  social  customs  be  brutal,  sanguinary, 
and  violent,  or  bear  the  impress  of  civilization  and 
refinement. 

That  we  may  have  no  partial  evidence  from  aboli- 
tionists in  this  inquiry  either,  I  will  once  more  turn 
to  their  own  newspapers,  and  I  will  confine  myself, 
this  time,  to  a  selection  from  paragraphs  which 
appeared  from  day  to  day  during  my  visit  to  Amer- 
ica, and  which  refer  to  occurrences  happening  while 


FOR   GENERAL   CIRCULATION.  343 

I  was  there.     The  italics  in  these  extracts,  as  in  the 
foregoing,  are  my  own. 

These  cases  did  not  ALL  occur,  it  will  be  seen,  in 
territory  actually  belonging  to  legalized  Slave 
States,  though  most,  and  those  the  very  worst  among 
them,  did,  as  their  counterparts  constantly  do ;  but 
the  position  of  the  scenes  of  action  in  reference  to 
places  immediately  at  hand,  where  slavery  is  the 
law ;  and  the  strong  resemblance  between  that  class 
of  outrages  and  the  rest ;  lead  to  the  just  presump- 
tion that  the  character  of  the  parties  concerned  was 
formed  in  slave  districts,  and  brutalized  by  slave 
customs. 

"  Horrible  Tragedy. 

"By  a  slip  from  The  Southport  Telegraph,  Wis- 
consin, we  learn  that  the  Hon.  Charles  C.  P.  Arndt, 
Member  of  the  Council  for  Brown  county,  was  shot 
dead  on  the  floor  of  the  Council  chamber,  by  James 
R.  Vinyard,  Member  from  Grant  county.  The 
affair  grew  out  of  a  nomination  for  Sheriff  of  Grant 
county.  Mr.  E.  S.  Baker  was  nominated  and  sup- 
ported by  Mr.  Arndt.  This  nomination  was  opposed 
by  Vinyard,  who  wanted  the  appointment  to  vest  in 
his  own  brother.  In  the  course  of  debate,  the  de- 
ceased made  some  statements  which  Vinyard  pro- 
nounced false,  and  made  use  of  violent  and  insulting 
language,  dealing  largely  in  personalities,  to  which 
Mr.  A.  made  no  reply.  After  the  adjournment,  Mr. 
A.  stepped  up  to  Vinyard,  and  requested  him  to 
retract,  which  he  refused  to  do,  repeating  the  offen- 
sive words.  Mr.  Arndt  then  made  a  blow  at 
Viuyard,  who  drew  back  a  pace,  drew  a  pistol,  and 
shot  him  dead. 


344  AMERICAN  NOTES 

"  The  issue  appears  to  have  been  provoked  on  the 
part  of  Vinyard,  who  was  determined  at  all  hazards 
to  defeat  the  appointment  of  Baker,  and  who,  him- 
self defeated,  turned  his  ire  and  revenge  upon  the 
unfortunate  Arndt." 

"  The  Wisconsin  Tragedy. 

"  Public  indignation  runs  high  in  the  territory  of 
Wisconsin,  in  relation  to  the  murder  of  C.  C.  P. 
Arndt,  in  the  Legislative  Hall  of  the  Territory. 
Meetings  have  been  held  in  different  counties  of 
Wisconsin,  denouncing  the  practice  of  secretly  bear- 
ing arms  in  the  Legislative  chambers  of  the  country. 
We  have  seen  the  account  of  the  expulsion  of  James 
R.  Vinyard,  the  perpetrator  of  the  bloody  deed,  and 
are  amazed  to  hear,  that,  after  this  expulsion  by 
those  who  saw  Vinyard  kill  Mr.  Arndt  in  the  pres- 
ence of  his  aged  father,  who  was  on  a  visit  to  see 
his  son,  little  dreaming  that  he  was  to  witness  his 
murder,  Judge  Dunn  has  discharged  Vinyard  on  bail. 
The  Miners'  Free  Press  speaks  in  terms  of  merited 
rebuke  at  the  outrage  upon  the  feelings  of  the  people 
of  Wisconsin.  Vinyard  was  within  arm's  length  of 
Mr.  Arndt,  when  he  took  such  deadly  aim  at  him, 
that  he  never  spoke.  Vinyard  might  at  pleasure, 
being  so  near,  have  only  wounded  him,  but  he  chose 
to  kill  him." 

"  Murder. 

11  By  a  letter  in  a  St.  Louis  paper  of  the  14th,  we 
notice  a  terrible  outrage  at  Burlington,  Iowa.  A 
Mr.  Bridgman  having  had  a  difficulty  with  a  citizen 
of  the  place,  Mr.  Ross ;  a  brother-in-law  of  the  lat- 
ter provided  himself  with  one  of  Colt's  revolving 


FOR   GENERAL   CIRCULATION.  345 

pistols,  met  Mr.  B.  in  the  street,  and  discharged  the 
contents  of  jive  of  the  barrels  at  him :  each  shot  tak- 
ing effect.  Mr.  B.,  though  horribly  wounded,  and 
dying,  returned  the  fire,  and  killed  Boss  on  the 
spot." 

«  Terrible  death  of  Robert  Potter. 

"  From  the  '  Caddo  Gazette/  of  the  12th  inst.,  we 
learn  the  frightful  death  of  Colonel  Eobert  Potter. 
.  .  .  He  was  beset  in  his  house  by  an  enemy,  named 
Eose.  He  sprang  from  his  couch,  seized  his  gun, 
and,  in  his  night  clothes,  rushed  from  the  house. 
For  about  two  hundred  yards  his  speed  seemed  to 
defy  his  pursuers ;  but,  getting  entangled  in  a 
thicket,  he  was  captured.  Eose  told  him  that  he 
intended  to  act  a  generous  part,  and  give  him  a  chance 
for  his  life.  He  then  told  Potter  that  he  might  run, 
and  he  should  not  be  interrupted  till  he  reached  a 
certain  distance.  Potter  started  at  the  word  of 
command,  and  before  a  gun  was  fired  he  had  reached 
the  lake.  His  first  impulse  was  to  jump  into  the 
water  and  dive  for  it,  which  he  did.  Eose  was  close 
behind  him,  and  formed  his  men  on  the  bank  ready 
to  shoot  him  as  he  rose.  In  a  few  seconds  he  came 
up  to  breathe ;  and  scarce  had  his  head  reached  the 
surface  of  the  water  when  it  was  completely  riddled 
with  the  shot  of  their  guns,  and  he  sank,  to  rise  no 
more ! " 

"  Murder  in  Arkansas. 

"  We  understand  that  a  severe  rencontre  came  off  a 
few  days  since  in  the  Seneca  Nation,  between  Mr. 
Loose,  the  sub-agent  of  the  mixed  band  of  the 
Senecas,  Quapaw,  and  Shawnees,  and  Mr.  James 


346  AMERICAN  NOTES 

Gillespie,  of  the  mercantile  firm  of  Thomas  G. 
Allison  and  Co.,  of  Maysville,  Benton  County,  Ark., 
in  which  the  latter  was  slain  with  a  bowie-knife. 
Some  difficulty  had  for  some  time  existed  between 
the  parties.  It  is  said  that  Major  Gillespie  brought 
on  the  attack  with  a  cane.  A  severe  conflict 
ensued,  during  which  two  pistols  were  fired  by 
Gillespie  and  one  by  Loose.  Loose  then  stabbed 
Gillespie  with  one  of  those  never-failing  weapons,  a 
bowie-knife.  The  death  of  Major  G.  is  much 
regretted,  as  he  was  a  liberal-minded  and  energetic 
man.  Since  the  above  was  in  type,  we  have  learned 
that  Major  Allison  has  stated  to  some  of  our  citi- 
zens in  town  that  Mr.  Loose  gave  the  first  blow. 
We  forbear  to  give  any  particulars,  as  the  matter 
will  be  the  subject  of  judicial  investigation" 

"  Foul  Deed. 

"  The  steamer  Thames,  just  from  Missouri  river, 
brought  us  a  handbill,  offering  a  reward  of  500  dol- 
lars, for  the  person  who  assassinated  Lilburn  W. 
Baggs,  late  Governor  of  this  State,  at  Independence, 
on  the  night  of  the  6th  inst.  Governor  Baggs,  it 
is  stated  in  a  written  memorandum,  was  not  dead, 
but  mortally  wounded. 

"  Since  the  above  was  written,  we  received  a  note 
from  the  clerk  of  the  Thames,  giving  the  following 
particulars.  Gov.  Baggs  was  shot  by  some  villain 
on  Friday,  6th  inst.,  in  the  evening,  while  sitting  in 
a  room  in  his  own  house  in  Independence.  His  son, 
a  boy,  hearing  a  report,  ran  into  the  room,  and  found 
the  Governor  sitting  in  his  chair,  with  his  jaw  fallen 
down,  and  his  head  leaning  back :  on  discovering 
the  injury  done  to  his  father,  he  gave  the  alarm. 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  347 

Foot  tracks  were  found  in  the  garden  below  the 
window,  and  a  pistol  picked  up  supposed  to  have 
been  overloaded,  and  thrown  from  the  hand  of  the 
scoundrel  who  fired  it.  Three  buck  shots  of  a 
heavy  load  took  effect;  one  going  through  his 
mouth,  one  into  the  brain,  and  another  probably  in 
or  near  the  brain ;  all  going  into  the  back  part  of 
the  neck  and  head.  The  Governor  was  still  alive 
on  the  morning  of  the  7th ;  but  no  hopes  for  his 
recovery  by  his  friends,  and  but  slight  hopes  from 
his  physicians. 

"  A  man  was  suspected,  and  the  Sheriff  most 
probably  has  possession  of  him  by  this  time. 

"  The  pistol  was  one  of  a  pair  stolen  some  days 
previous  from  a  baker  in  Independence,  and  the 
legal  authorities  have  the  description  of  the  other." 

"  Rencontre. 

"An  unfortunate  affair  took  place  on  Friday 
evening  in  Chartres  Street,  in  which  one  of  our 
most  respectable  citizens  received  a  dangerous 
wound,  from  a  poignard,  in  the  abdomen.  From 
the  Bee  (New  Orleans)  of  yesterday,  we  learn  the 
following  particulars.  It  appears  that  an  article 
was  published  in  the  French  side  of  the  paper  on 
Monday  last,  containing  some  strictures  on  the 
Artillery  Battalion  for  firing  their  guns  on  Sunday 
morning,  in  answer  to  those  from  the  Ontario  and 
Woodbury,  and  thereby  much  alarm  was  caused  to 
the  families  of  those  persons  who  were  out  all  night 
preserving  the  peace  of  the  city.  Major  C.  Gaily, 
Commander  of  the  battalion,  resenting  this,  called 
at  the  office  and  demanded  the  author's  name ;  that 
of  Mr.  P.  Arpin  was  given  to  him,  who  was  absent 


348  AMERICAN  NOTES 

at  the  time.  Some  angry  words  then  passed  with 
one  of  the  proprietors,  and  a  challenge  followed; 
the  friends  of  both  parties  tried  to  arrange  the 
affair,  but  failed  to  do  so.  On  Friday  evening, 
about  seven  o'clock,  Major  Gaily  met  Mr.  P.  Arpin 
in  Chartres  Street,  and  accosted  him.  'Are  you 
Mr.  Arpin  ? ' 

"  <  Yes,  sir.' 

"  *  Then  I  have  to  tell  you  that  you  are  a '  '• 

(applying  an  appropriate  epithet). 

" 1 1  shall  remind  you  of  your  words,  sir.' 

"'But  I  have  said  I  would  break  my  cane  on  your 
shoulders.' 

"  '  I  know  it,  but  I  have  not  yet  received  the 
blow.' 

"  At  these  words,  Major  Gaily,  having  a  cane  in 
his  hands,  struck  Mr.  Arpin  across  the  face,  and  the 
latter  drew  a  poignard  from  his  pocket  and  stabbed 
Major  Gaily  in  the  abdomen. 

"Fears  are  entertained  that  the  wound  will  be 
mortal.  We  understand  that  Mr.  Arpin  has  given 
security  for  his  appearance  at  the  Criminal  Court  to 
answer  the  charge" 

"Affray  in  Mississippi. 

"On  the  27th  ult.,  in  an  affray  near  Carthage, 
Leake  county,  Mississippi,  between  James  Cotting- 
ham  and  John  Wilburn,  the  latter  was  shot  by  the 
former,  and  so  horribly  wounded,  that  there  was  no 
hope  of  his  recovery.  On  the  2d  instant,  there  was 
an  affray  at  Carthage  between  A.  C.  Sharkey  and 
George  Goff,  in  which  the  latter  was  shot,  and 
thought  mortally  wounded.  Sharkey  delivered  him- 
self up  to  the  authorites,  but  changed  his  mind  and 
escaped  !  " 


'   FOR   GENERAL   CIRCULATION.  349 

"  Personal  Encounter. 

"An  encounter  took  place  in  Sparta,  a  few  days 
since,  between  the  barkeeper  of  an  hotel,  and  a  man 
named  Bury.  It  appears  that  Bury  had  become 
somewhat  noisy,  and  that  the  barkeeper,  determined 
to  preserve  order,  had  threatened  to  shoot  Bury, 
whereupon  Bury  drew  a  pistol  and  shot  the  bar- 
keeper down.  He  was  not  dead  at  the  last  accounts, 
but  slight  hopes  were  entertained  of  his  recovery." 

"  Duel. 

"  The  clerk  of  the  steamboat  Tribune  informs  us 
that  another  duel  was  fought  on  Tuesday  last,  by 
Mr.  Bobbins,  a  bank  officer  in  Vicksburg,  and  Mr. 
Fall,  the  editor  of  the  Vicksburg  Sentinel.  Accord- 
ing to  the  arrangement,  the  parties  had  six  pistols 
each,  which,  after  the  word  '  Fire  ! '  they  were  to  dis- 
charge as  fast  as  they  pleased.  Fall  fired  two  pistols 
without  effect.  Mr.  Robbins's  first  shot  took  effect 
in  Fall's  thigh,  who  fell,  and  was  unable  to  continue 
the  combat." 

"Affray  in  Clarke  County. 

"  An  unfortunate  affray  occurred  in  Clarke  county 
(Mo.)  near  Waterloo,  on  Tuesday  the  19th  ult., 
which  originated  in  settling  the  partnership  con- 
cerns of  Messrs.  M'Kane  and  M'Allister,  who  had 
been  engaged  in  the  business  of  distilling,  and  re- 
sulted in  the  death  of  the  latter,  who  was  shot 
down  by  Mr.  M'Kane,  because  of  his  attempting  to 
take  possession  of  seven  barrels  of  whiskey,  the 
property  of  M'Kane,  which  had  been  knocked  off 
to  M'Allister  at  a  sheriff's  sale  at  one  dollar  per 


350  AMERICAN   NOTES 

barrel.     M'Kane  immediately  fled,  and  at  the  latest 
dates  had  not  been  taken. 

"  This  unfortunate  affray  caused  considerable  ex- 
citement in  the  neighborhood,  as  both  the  parties 
were  men  with  large  families  depending  upon  them 
and  stood  well  in  the  community." 

I  will  quote  but  one  more  paragraph,  which,  by 
reason  of  its  monstrous  absurdity,  may  be  a  relief 
to  these  atrocious  deeds. 

"Affair  of  Honor. 

"  We  have  just  heard  the  particulars  of  a  meet- 
ing which  took  place  on  Six  Mile  Island,  on  Tues- 
day, between  two  young  bloods  of  our  city :  Samuel 
Thurston,  aged  fifteen,  and  William  Hine,  aged 
thirteen  years.  They  were  attended  by  young  gen- 
tlemen of  the  same  age.  The  weapons  used  on  the 
occasion  were  a  couple  of  Dickson's  best  rifles ; 
the  distance,  thirty  yards.  They  took  one  fire, 
without  any  damage  being  sustained  by  either 
party,  except  the  ball  of  Thurston's  gun  passing 
through  the  crown  of  Hine's  hat.  Through  the 
intercession  of  the  Board  of  Honor,  the  challenge 
was  withdrawn,  and  the  difference  amicably  ad- 
justed." 

If  the  reader  will  picture  to  himself  the  kind  of 
Board  of  Honor  which  amicably  adjusted  the  differ- 
ence between  these  two  little  boys,  who  in  any  other 
part  of  the  world  would  have  been  amicably  ad- 
justed on  two  porters'  backs,  and  soundly  flogged 
with  birchen  rods,  he  will  be  possessed,  no  doubt, 
with  as  strong  a  sense  of  its  ludicrous  character  as 
that  which  sets  me  laughing  whenever  its  image 
rises  up  before  me. 


FOR   GENERAL   CIRCULATION.  351 

Now,  I  appeal  to  every  human  mind  imbued  with 
the  commonest  of  common  sense,  and  the  common- 
est of  common  humanity ;  to  all  dispassionate,  rea- 
soning creatures,  of  any  shade  of  opinion :  and  ask, 
with  these  revolting  evidences  of  the  state  of  society 
which  exists  in  and  about  the  slave  districts  of 
America  before  them,  can  they  have  a  doubt  of  the 
real  condition  of  the  slave,  or  can  they  for  a  mo- 
ment make  a  compromise  between  the  institution  or 
any  of  its  flagrant  fearful  features,  and  their  own 
just  consciences  ?  Will  they  say  of  any  tale  of 
cruelty  and  horror,  however  aggravated  in  degree, 
that  it  is  improbable,  when  they  can  turn  to  the 
public  prints,  and,  running,  read  such  signs  as  these, 
laid  before  them  by  the  men  who  rule  the  slaves : 
in  their  own  acts,  and  under  their  own  hands  ? 

Do  we  not  know  that  the  worst  deformity  and 
ugliness  of  slavery  are  at  once  the  cause  and  the 
effect  of  the  reckless  license  taken  by  these  free- 
born  outlaws  ?  Do  we  not  know  that  the  man  who 
has  been  born  and  bred  among  its  wrongs  ;  who  has 
seen  in  his  childhood  husbands  obliged,  at  the  word 
of  command,  to  flog  their  wives ;  women,  indecently 
compelled  to  hold  up  their  own  garments  that  men 
might  lay  the  heavier  stripes  upon  their  legs,  driven 
and  harried  by  brutal  overseers  in  their  time  of 
travail,  and  becoming  mothers  on  the  field  of  toil, 
under  the  very  lash  itself ;  who  has  read  in  youth, 
and  seen  his  virgin  sisters  read,  descriptions  of  run- 
away men  and  women,  and  their  disfigured  persons, 
which  could  not  be  published  elsewhere  of  so  much 
stock  upon  a  farm,  or  at  a  show  of  beasts :  —  do  we 
not  know  that  that  man,  whenever  his  wrath  is 
kindled  up,  will  be  a  brutal  savage  ?  Do  we  not 


352  AMERICAN  NOTES 

know  that  as  he  is  a  coward  in  his  domestic  life, 
stalking  among  his  shrinking  men  and  women  slaves 
armed  with  his  heavy  whip,  so  he  will  be  a  coward 
out  of  doors,  and,  carrying  cowards'  weapons  hidden 
in  his  breast,  will  shoot  men  down  and  stab  them 
when  he  quarrels  ?  And  if  our  reason  did  not 
teach  us  this  and  much  beyond;  if  we  were  such 
idiots  as  to  close  our  eyes  to  that  fine  mode  of 
training  which  rears  up  such  men ;  should  we  not 
know  that  they  who  among  their  equals  stab  and 
pistol  in  the  legislative  halls,  and  in  the  counting- 
house,  and  on  the  market-place,  and  in  all  the  else- 
where peaceful  pursuits  of  life,  must  be  to  their 
dependants,  even  though  they  were  free  servants, 
so  many  merciless  and  unrelenting  tyrants  ? 

What!  shall  we  declaim  against  the  ignorant 
peasantry  of  Ireland,  and  mince  the  matter  when 
these  American  taskmasters  are  in  question  ?  Shall 
we  cry  shame  on  the  brutality  of  those  who  ham- 
string cattle  :  and  spare  the  lights  of  Freedom  upon 
earth  who  notch  the  ears  of  men  and  women,  cut 
pleasant  posies  in  the  shrinking  flesh,  learn  to 
write  with  pens  of  red-hot  iron  on  the  human  face, 
rack  their  poetic  fancies  for  liveries  of  mutilation 
which  their  slaves  shall  wear  for  life  and  carry  to 
the  grave,  break  living  limbs  as  did  the  soldiery  who 
mocked  and  slew  the  Saviour  of  the  world,  and  set 
defenceless  creatures  up  for  targets  ?  Shall  we 
whimper  over  legends  of  the  tortures  practised  on 
each  other  by  the  Pagan  Indians,  and  smile  upon 
the  cruelties  of  Christian  men  ?  Shall  we,  so  long 
as  these  things  last,  exult  above  the  scattered  rem- 
nants of  that  stately  race,  and  triumph  in  the  white 
enjoyment  of  their  broad  possessions?  Eather, 


FOR   GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  353 

for  me,  restore  the  forest  and  the  Indian  village  ;  in 
lieu  of  stars  and  stripes,  let  some  poor  feather 
flutter  in  the  breeze  ;  replace  the  streets  aud  squares 
by  wigwams  ;  and  though  the  death-song  of  a  hun- 
dred haughty  warriors  fill  the  air,  it  will  be  music 
to  the  shriek  of  one  unhappy  slave. 

On  one  theme,  which  is  commonly  before  our 
eyes,  and  in  respect  of  which  our  national  character 
is  changing  fast,  let  the  plain  Truth  be  spoken,  and 
let  us  not,  like  dastards,  beat  about  the  bush  by 
hinting  at  the  Spaniard  and  the  fierce  Italian. 
When  knives  are  drawn  by  Englishmen  in  conflict, 
let  it  be  said  and  known :  "  We  owe  this  change  to 
Republican  Slavery.  These  are  the  weapons  of 
Freedom.  With  sharp  points  and  edges  such  as 
these,  Liberty  in  America  hews  and  hacks  her 
slaves;  or,  failing  that  pursuit,  her  sons  devote 
them  to  a  better  use,  and  turn  them  on  each  other." 


23 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

CONCLUDING   REMARKS. 

THERE  are  many  passages  in  this  book  where  I 
have  been  at  some  pains  to  resist  the  temptation  of 
troubling  my  readers  with  my  own  deductions  and 
conclusions  :  preferring  that  they  should  judge  for 
themselves,  from  such  premises  as  I  have  laid  before 
them.  My  only  object  in  the  outset  was,  to  carry 
them  with  me  faithfully  wheresoever  I  went :  and 
that  task  I  have  discharged. 

But  I  may  be  pardoned  if,  on  such  a  theme  as  the 
general  character  of  the  American  people,  and  the 
general  character  of  their  social  system,  as  pre- 
sented to  a  stranger's  eyes,  I  desire  to  express  my 
own  opinions  in  a  few  words,  before  I  bring  these 
volumes  to  a  close. 

They  are,  by  nature,  frank,  brave,  cordial,  hospi- 
table, and  affectionate.  Cultivation  and  refinement 
seem  but  to  enhance  their  warmth  of  heart  and 
ardent  enthusiasm ;  and  it  is  the  possession  of  these 
latter  qualities  in  a  most  remarkable  degree  which 
renders  an  educated  American  one  of  the  most 
endearing  and  most  generous  of  friends.  I  never 
was  so  won  upon  as  by  this  class ;  never  yielded  up 
my  full  confidence  and  esteem  so  readily  and  pleas- 
354 


AMERICAN  NOTES.  355 

urably  as  to  them  ;  never  can  make  again,  in  half  a 
year,  so  many  friends  for  whom  I  seem  to  entertain 
the  regard  of  half  a  life. 

These  qualities  are  natural,  I  implicitly  believe, 
to  the  whole  people.  That  they  are,  however,  sadly 
sapped  and  blighted  in  their  growth  among  the 
mass ;  and  that  there  are  influences  at  work  which 
endanger  them  still  more,  and  give  but  little  pres- 
ent promise  of  their  healthy  restoration,  is  a  truth 
that  ought  to  be  told. 

It  is  an  essential  part  of  every  national  character 
to  pique  itself  mightily  upon  its  faults,  and  to  de- 
duce tokens  of  its  virtue  or  its  wisdom  from  their 
very  exaggeration.  One  great  blemish  in  the  popu- 
lar mind  of  America,  and  the  prolific  parent  of  an 
innumerable  brood  of  evils,  is  Universal  Distrust. 
Yet  the  American  citizen  plumes  himself  upon  this 
spirit,  even  when  he  is  sufficiently  dispassionate  to 
perceive  the  ruin  it  works ;  and  will  often  adduce 
it,  in  spite  of  his  own  reason,  as  an  instance  of  the 
great  sagacity  and  acuteness  of  the  people,  and 
their  superior  shrewdness  and  independence. 

"You  carry,"  says  the  stranger,  "this  jealousy 
and  distrust  into  every  transaction  of  public  life. 
By  repelling  worthy  men  from  your  legislative 
assemblies,  it  has  bred  up  a  class  of  candidates  for 
the  suffrage,  who,  in  their -every  act,  disgrace  your 
Institutions  and  your  people's  choice.  ,  It  has  ren- 
dered you  so  fickle,  and  so  given  to  change,  that 
your  inconstancy  has  passed  into  a  proverb ;  for  you 
no  sooner  set  up  an  idol  firmly  than  you  are  sure  to 
pull  it  down  and  dash  it  into  fragments :  and  this 
because,  directly  you  reward  a  benefactor,  or  a 
public  servant,  you  distrust  him,  merely  because  he 


356  AMERICAN  NOTES 

is  rewarded ;  and  immediately  apply  yourselves  to 
find  out,  either  that  you  have  been  too  bountiful  in 
your  acknowledgments,  or  he  remiss  in  his  deserts. 
Any  man  who  attains  a  high  place  among  you,  from 
the  President  downwards,  may  date  his  downfall 
from  that  moment;  for  any  printed  lie  that  any 
notorious  villain  pens,  although  it  militate  directly 
against  the  character  and  conduct  of  a  life,  appeals 
at  once  to  your  distrust,  and  is  believed.  You  will 
strain  at  a  gnat  in  the  way  of  trustfulness  and  con- 
fidence, however  fairly  won  and  well  deserved  ;  but 
you  will  swallow  a  whole  caravan  of  camels,  if  they 
be  laden  with  unworthy  doubts  and  mean  suspicions. 
Is  this  well,  think  you,  or  likely  to  elevate  the 
character  of  the  governors  or  the  governed  among 
you  ?  " 

The  answer  is  invariably  the  same :  "  There's 
freedom  of  opinion  here,  you  know.  Every  man 
thinks  for  himself,  and  we  are  not  to  be  easily  over- 
reached. That's  how  our  people  come  to  be  sus- 
picious." 

Another  prominent  feature  is  the  love  of  "  smart " 
dealing:  which  gilds  over  many  a  swindle  and 
gross  breach  of  trust ;  many  a  defalcation,  public 
and  private ;  and  enables  many  a  knave  to  hold  his 
head  up  with  the  best,  who  well  deserves  a  halter : 
though  it  has  not  been  without  its  retributive  opera- 
tion, for  this  smartness  has  done  more  in  a  few 
years  to  impair  the  public  credit,  and  to  cripple  the 
public  resources,  than  dull  honesty,  however  rash, 
could  have  effected  in  a  century.  The  merits  of  a 
broken  speculation,  or  a  bankruptcy,  or  of  a  suc- 
cessful scoundrel,  are  not  gauged  by  its  or  his  observ- 
ance of  the  golden  rule,  "  Do  as  you  would  be  done 


FOE   GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  357 

by,"  but  are  considered  with  reference  to  their 
smartness.  I  recollect,  on  both  occasions  of  our 
passing  that  ill-fated  Cairo  on  the  Mississippi,  re- 
marking on  the  bad  effects  such  gross  deceits  must 
have,  when  they  exploded,  in  generating  a  want  of 
confidence  abroad,  and  discouraging  foreign  invest- 
ment :  but  I  was  given  to  understand  that  this  was 
a  very  smart  scheme,  by  which  a  deal  of  money  had 
been  made :  and  that  its  smartest  feature  was,  that 
they  forgot  these  things  abroad  in  a  very  short  time, 
and  speculated  again  as  freely  as  ever.  The  follow- 
ing dialogue  I  have  held  a  hundred  times :  "  Is  it 
not  a  very  disgraceful  circumstance  that  such  a  man 
as  So-and-so  should  be  acquiring  a  large  property  by 
the  most  infamous  and  odious  means,  and,  notwith- 
standing all  the  crimes  of  which  he  has  been  guilty, 
should  be  tolerated  and  abetted  by  your  citizens  ? 
He  is  a  public  nuisance,  is  he  not  ?  "  —  "  Yes,  sir." 
—  "A  convicted  liar  ?  "  —  "  Yes,  sir."  —  "  He  has 
been  kicked,  and  cuffed,  and  caned  ?  "  —  "  Yes,  sir." 
— "  And  he  is  utterly  dishonorable,  debased,  and 
profligate  ?  "  —  "  Yes,  sir."  —  "  In  the  name  of  won- 
der, then,  what  is  his  merit  ?  "  —  "  Well,  sir,  he  is  a 
smart  man." 

In  like  manner,  all  kinds  of  deficient  and  im- 
politic usages  are  referred  to  the  national  love  of 
trade  ;  though,  oddly  enough,  it  would  be  a  weighty 
charge  against  a  foreigner  that  he  regarded  the 
Americans  as  a  trading  people.  The  love  of  trade 
is  assigned  as  a  reason  for  that  comfortless  custom, 
so  very  prevalent  in  country  towns,  of  married  per- 
sons living  in  hotels,  having  no  fireside  of  their 
own,  and  seldom  meeting,  from  early  morning  until 
late  at  night,  but  at  the  hasty  public  meals.  The 


358  AMERICAN   NOTES 

love  of  trade  is  a  reason  why  the  literature  of 
America  is  to  remain  forever  unprotected:  "For  we 
are  a  trading  people,  and  don't  care  for  poetry : " 
though  we  do,  by  the  way,  profess  to  be  very  proud 
of  our  poets  :  while  healthful  amusements,  cheerful 
means  of  recreation,  and  wholesome  fancies  must 
fade  before  the  stern  utilitarian  joys  of  trade. 

These  three  characteristics  are  strongly  presented 
at  every  turn,  full  in  the  stranger's  view.  But,  the 
foul  growth  of  America  has  a  more  tangled,  root 
than  this ;  and  it  strikes  its  fibres  deep  in  its  licen- 
tious Press. 

Schools  may  be  erected,  East,  West,  North,  and 
South ;  pupils  be  taught,  and  masters  reared,  by 
scores  upon  scores  of  thousands ;  colleges  may 
thrive,  churches  may  be  crammed,  temperance  may 
be  diffused,  and  advancing  knowledge  in  all  other 
forms  walk  through  the  land  with  giant  strides  :  but 
while  the  newspaper  press  of  America  is  in,  or  near, 
its  present  abject  state,  high  moral  improvement  in 
that  country  is  hopeless.  Year  by  year,  it  must  and 
will  go  back ;  year  by  year,  the  tone  of  public  feel- 
ing must  sink  lower  down  ;  year  by  year,  the  Con- 
gress and  the  Senate  must  become  of  less  account 
before  all  decent  men ;  and  year  by  year,  the  mem- 
ory of  the  Great  Fathers  of  the  Revolution  must  be 
outraged  more  and  more,  in  the  bad  life  of  their 
degenerate  child. 

Among  the  herd  of  journals  which  are  published 
in  the  States,  there  are  some,  the  reader  scarcely 
need  be  told,  of  character  and  credit.  From  per- 
sonal intercourse  with  accomplished  gentlemen  con- 
nected with  publications  of  this  class,  I  have  derived 
both  pleasure  and  profit.  But  the  name  of  these 


FOR   GENERAL   CIRCULATION.  359 

is  Few,  and  of  the  others  Legion ;  and  the  influ- 
ence of  the  good  is  powerless  to  counteract  the 
mortal  poison  of  the  bad. 

Among  the  gentry  of  America ;  among  the  well- 
informed  and  moderate  ;  in  the  learned  professions ; 
at  the  bar  and  on  the  bench  :  there  is,  as  there  can 
be,  but  one  opinion,  in  reference  to  the  vicious  char- 
acter of  these  infamous  journals.  It  is  sometimes 
contended  —  I  will  not  say  strangely,  for  it  is 
natural  to  seek  excuses  for  such  a  disgrace  —  that 
their  influence  is  not  so  great  as  a  visitor  would 
suppose.  I  must  be  pardoned  for  saying  that  there 
is  no  warrant  for  this  plea,  and  that  every  fact  and 
circumstance  tends  directly  to  the  opposite  conclu- 
sion. 

When  any  man,  of  any  grade  of  desert  in  intel- 
lect or  character,  can  climb  to  any  public  distinc- 
tion, no  matter  what,  in  America,  without  first 
grovelling  down  upon  the  earth,  and  bending  the 
knee  before  this  monster  of  depravity  ;  when  any 
private  excellence  is  safe  from  its  attacks  ;  when 
any  social  confidence  is  left  unbroken  by  it,  or  any 
tie  of  social  decency  and  honor  is  held  in  the  least 
regard ;  when  any  man  in  that  Free  Country  has 
freedom  of  opinion,  and  presumes  to  think  for  him- 
self, and  speak  for  himself,  without  humble  refer- 
ence to  a  censorship  which,  for  its  rampant  ignorance 
and  base  dishonesty,  he  utterly  loathes  and  despises 
in  his  heart ;  when  those  who  most  acutely  feel  its 
infamy,  and  the  reproach  it  casts  upon  the  nation, 
and  who  most  denounce  it  to  each  other,  dare  to  set 
their  heels  upon,  and  crush  it  openly,  in  the  sight 
of  all  men :  then  I  will  believe  that  its  influence  is 
lessening,  and  men  are  returning  to  their  manly 


360  AMERICAN   NOTES 

senses.  But  while  that  Press  has  its  evil  eye  in 
every  house,  and  its  black  hand  in  every  appoint- 
ment in  the  state,  from  a  president  to  a  postman ; 
while,  with  ribald  slander  for  its  only  stock  in  trade, 
it  is  the  standard  literature  of  an  enormous  class, 
who  must  find  their  reading  in  a  newspaper,  or  they 
will  not  read  at  all ;  so  long  must  its  odium  be  upon 
the  country's  head,  and  so  long  must  the  evil  it 
works  be  plainly  visible  in  the  Kepublic. 

To  those  who  are  accustomed  to  the  leading  Eng- 
lish journals,  or  to  the  respectable  journals  of  the 
Continent  of  Europe ;  to  those  who  are  accustomed 
to  anything  else  in  print  and  paper ;  it  would  be 
impossible,  without  an  amount  of  extract  for  which 
I  have  neither  space  nor  inclination,  to  convey  an 
adequate  idea  of  this  frightful  engine  in  America. 
But,  if  any  man  desire  confirmation  of  my  state- 
ment on  this  head,  let  him  repair  to  any  place  in 
this  city  of  London,  where  scattered  numbers  of 
these  publications  are  to  be  found ;  and  there  let 
him  form  his  own  opinion.1 

It  would  be  well,  there  can  be  no  doubt,  for  the 
American  people  as  a  whole,  if  they  loved  the  Eeal 
less,  and  the  Ideal  somewhat  more.  It  would  be 
well,  if  there  were  greater  encouragement  to  light- 
ness of  heart  and  gayety,  and  a  wider  cultivation 
of  what  is  beautiful,  without  being  eminently  and 
directly  useful.  But  here  I  think  the  general  re- 
monstrance, "We  are  a  new  country,"  which  is  so 

*  NOTE  TO  THE  ORIGINAL  EDITION. —  Or  let  him  refer  to  an  able 
and  perfectly  truthful  article  in  Tlie  Foreign  Quarterly  Review,  pub- 
lished in  the  present  month  of  October  ;  to  which  my  attention  has 
been  attracted,  since  these  sheets  have  been  passing  through  the  press. 
He  will  find  some  specimens  there,  by  no  means  remarkable  to  any  man 
who  has  been  in  America,  but  sufficiently  striking  to  one  who  has  not. 


FOR   GENERAL  CIRCULATION.  361 

often  advanced  as  an  excuse  for  defects  which  are 
quite  unjustifiable,  as  being  of  right  only  the  slow 
growth  of  an  old  one,  may  be  very  reasonably  urged : 
and  I  yet  hope  to  hear  of  there  being  some  other 
national  amusement  in  the  United  States,  besides 
newspaper  politics. 

They  certainly  are  not  a  humorous  people,  and 
their  temperament  always  impressed  me  as  being  of 
a  dull  and  gloomy  character.  In  shrewdness  of 
remark,  and  a  certain  cast-iron  quaintness,  the  Yan- 
kees, or  people  of  New  England,  unquestionably 
take  the  lead ;  as  they  do  in  most  other  evidences 
of  intelligence.  But  in  travelling  about,  out  of  the 
large  cities  —  as  I  have  remarked  in  former  parts  of 
these  volumes  —  I  was  quite  oppressed  by  the  pre- 
vailing seriousness  and  melancholy  air  of  business : 
which  was  so  general  and  unvarying,  that,  at  every 
new  town  I  came  to,  I  seemed  to  meet  the  very 
same  people  whom  I  had  left  behind  me  at  the  last. 
Such  defects  as  are  perceptible  in  the  national 
manners  seem,  to  me,  to  be  referable,  in  a  great 
degree,  to  this  cause :  which  has  generated  a  dull, 
sullen  persistence  in  coarse  usages,  and  rejected  the 
graces  of  life  as  undeserving  of  attention.  There 
is  no  doubt  that  Washington,  who  was  always  most 
scrupulous  and  exact  on  points  of  ceremony,  per- 
ceived the  tendency  towards  this  mistake,  even  in 
his  time,  and  did  his  utmost  to  correct  it. 

I  cannot  hold,  with  other  writers  on  these  subjects, 
that  the  prevalence  of  various  forms  of  Dissent  in 
America  is  in  any  way  attributable  to  the  non-exist- 
ence there  of  an  Established  Church :  indeed,  I 
think  the  temper  of  the  people,  if  it  admitted  of 
such  an  Institution  being  founded  amongst  them, 


362  AMERICAN   NOTES 

would  lead  them  to  desert  it,  as  a  matter  of  course, 
merely  because  it  was  established.  But,  supposing 
it  to  exist,  I  doubt  its  probable  efficacy  in  summon- 
ing the  wandering  sheep  to  one  great  fold,  simply 
because  of  the  immense  amount  of  Dissent  which 
prevails  at  home ;  and  because  I  do  not  find  in 
America  any  one  form  of  religion  with  which  we  in 
Europe,  or  even  in  England,  are  unacquainted.  Dis- 
senters resort  thither  in  great  numbers,  as  other 
people  do,  simply  because  it  is  a  land  of  resort; 
and  great  settlements  of  them  are  founded,  because 
ground  can  be  purchased,  and  towns  and  villages 
reared,  where  there  were  none  of  the  human  creation 
before.  But  even  the  Shakers  emigrated  from  Eng- 
land ;  our  country  is  not  unknown  to  Mr.  Joseph 
Smith,  the  apostle  of  Mormonism,  or  to  his  benighted 
disciples ;  I  have  beheld  religious  scenes  myself,  in 
some  of  our  populous  towns,  which  can  hardly  be 
surpassed  by  an  American  camp-meeting ;  and  I  am 
not  aware  that  any  instance  of  superstitious  impos- 
ture on  the  one  hand,  and  superstitious  credulity  on 
the  other,  has  had  its  origin  in  the  United  States, 
which  we  cannot  more  than  parallel  by  the  prece- 
dents of  Mrs.  Southcote,  Mary  Tofts  the  rabbit- 
breeder,  or  even  Mr.  Thorn  of  Canterbury :  which 
latter  case  arose  some  time  after  the  dark  ages  had 
passed  away. 

The  Republican  Institutions  of  America  undoubt- 
edly lead  the  people  to  assert  their  self-respect  and 
their  equality ;  but  a  traveller  is  bound  to  bear  those 
Institutions  in  his  mind,  and  not  hastily  to  resent 
the  near  approach  of  a  class  of  strangers  who,  at 
home,  would  keep  aloof.  This  characteristic,  when 
it  was  tinctured  with  no  foolish  pride,  and  stopped 


FOR   GENERAL   CIRCULATION.  363 

short  of  no  honest  service,  never  offended  me ;  and 
I  very  seldom,  if  ever,  experienced  its  rude  or  unbe- 
coming display.  Once  or  twice  it  was  comically 
developed,  as  in  the  following  case ;  but  this  was  an 
amusing  incident,  and  not  the  rule,  or  near  it. 

I  wanted  a  pair  of  boots  at  a  certain  town,  for  I 
had  none  to  travel  in,  but  those  with  the  memorable 
cork  soles,  which  were  much  too  hot  for  the  fiery 
decks  of  a  steamboat.  I  therefore  sent  a  message 
to  an  artist  in  boots,  importing,  with  my  compli- 
ments, that  I  should  be  happy  to  see  him,  if  he 
would  do  me  the  polite  favor  to  call.  He  very 
kindly  returned  for  answer,  that  he  would  "look 
round  "  at  six  o'clock  that  evening. 

I  was  lying  on  the  sofa,  with  a  book  and  a  wine- 
glass, at  about  that  time,  when  the  door  opened,  and 
a  gentleman  in  a  stiff  cravat,  within  a  year  or  two 
on  either  side  of  thirty,  entered,  in  his  hat  and 
gloves ;  walked  up  to  the  looking-glass ;  arranged 
his  hair ;  took  off  his  gloves ;  slowly  produced  a 
measure  from  the  uttermost  depths  of  his  coat- 
pocket  ;  and  requested  me,  in  a  languid  tone,  to 
"unfix"  my  straps.  I  complied,  but  looked  with 
some  curiosity  at  his  hat,  which  was  still  upon  his 
head.  It  might  have  been  that,  or  it  might  have 
been  the  heat  —  but  he  took  it  off.  Then,  he  sat 
himself  down  on  a  chair  opposite  to  me ;  rested  an 
arm  on  each  knee ;  and,  leaning  forward  very  much, 
took  from  the  ground,  by  a  great  effort,  the  speci- 
men of  metropolitan  workmanship  which  I  had  just 
pulled  off :  whistling  pleasantly  as  he  did  so.  He 
turned  it  over  and  over;  surveyed  it  with  a  con- 
tempt no  language  can  express ;  and  inquired  if  I 
wished  him  to  fix  me  a  boot  like  that?  I  courte- 


364  AMERICAN  NOTES 

ously  replied  that,  provided  the  boots  were  large 
enough,  I  would  leave  the  rest  to  him ;  that,  if  con- 
venient and  practicable,  I  should  not  object  to  their 
bearing  some  resemblance  to  the  model  then  before 
him ;  but  that  I  would  be  entirely  guided  by,  and 
would  beg  to  leave  the  whole  subject  to,  his  judg- 
ment and  discretion.  "You  ain't  partickler  about 
this  scoop  in  the  heel  I  suppose,  then  ? "  says  he. 
"We  don't  foller  that  here."  I  repeated  my  last 
observation.  He  looked  at  himself  in  the  glass 
again ;  went  closer  to  it  to  dash  a  grain  or  two  of 
dust  out  of  the  corner  of  his  eye ;  and  settled  his 
cravat.  All  this  time  my  leg  and  foot  were  in  the 
air.  "  Nearly  ready,  sir  ?  "  I  inquired.  "  Well, 
pretty  nigh,"  he  said;  "keep  steady."  I  kept  as 
steady  as  I  could,  both  in  foot  and  face ;  and  having 
by  this  time  got  the  dust  out,  and  found  his  pencil- 
case,  he  measured  me,  and  made  the  necessary  notes. 
When  he  had  finished,  he  fell  into  his  old  attitude, 
and,  taking  up  the  boot  again,  mused  for  some  time. 
"  And  this,"  he  said  at  last,  "  is  an  English  boot,  is 
it  ?  This  is  a  London  boot,  eh  ?  "  "  That,  sir,"  I 
replied,  "is  a  London  boot."  He  mused  over  it 
again,  after  the  manner  of  Hamlet  with  Yorick's 
skull ;  nodded  his  head,  as  who  should  say,  "  I  pity 
the  Institutions  that  led  to  the  production  of  this 
boot ;  "  rose ;  put  up  his  pencil,  notes,  and  paper  — 
glancing  at  himself  in  the  glass  all  the  time  —  put 
on  his  hat;  drew  on  his  gloves  very  slowly;  and 
finally  walked  out.  When  he  had  been  gone  about 
a  minute,  the  door  re-opened,  and  his  hat  and  his 
head  re-appeared.  He  looked  round  the  room,  and 
at  the  boot  again,  which  was  still  lying  on  the  floor ; 
appeared  thoughtful  for  a  minute,  and  then  said, 


FOB   GENERAL   CIRCULATION.  365 

"Well,   good  arternoon."     "Good   afternoon,  sir," 
said  I :  and  that  was  the  end  of  the  interview. 

There  is  but  one  other  head  on  which  I  wish  to 
offer  a  remark ;  and  that  has  reference  to  the  public 
health.  In  so  vast  a  country,  where  there  are  thou- 
sands of  millions  of  acres  of  land  yet  unsettled  and 
uncleared,  and  on  every  rood  of  which  vegetable 
decomposition  is  annually  taking  place ;  where  there 
are  so  many  great  rivers,  and  such  opposite  varieties 
of  climate ;  there  cannot  fail  to  be  a  great  amount  of 
sickness  at  certain  seasons.  But  I  may  venture  to 
say,  after  conversing  with  many  members  of  the 
medical  profession  in  America,  that  I  am  not  singu- 
lar in  the  opinion  that  much  of  the  disease  which 
does  prevail  might  be  avoided,  if  a  few  common  pre- 
cautions were  observed.  Greater  means  of  personal 
cleanliness  are  indispensable  to  this  end ;  the  custom 
of  hastily  swallowing  large  quantities  of  animal 
food  three  times  a  day,  and  rushing  back  to  seden- 
tary pursuits  after  each  meal,  must  be  changed ;  the 
gentler  sex  must  go  more  wisely  clad,  and  take  more 
healthful  exercise ;  and  in  the  latter  clause  the  males 
must  be  included  also.  Above  all,  in  public  institu- 
tions, and  throughout  the  whole  of  every  town  and 
city,  the  system  of  ventilation,  and  drainage,  and 
removal  of  impurities  requires  to  be  thoroughly 
revised.  There  is  no  local  Legislature  in  America 
which  may  not  study  Mr.  Chadwick's  excellent 
Report  upon  the  Sanitary  Condition  of  our  Labor- 
ing Classes  with  immense  advantage. 

I  have  now  arrived  at  the  close  of  this  book.  I 
have  little  reason  to  believe,  from  certain  warnings 
I  have  had  since  I  returned  to  England,  that  it  will 


366  AMERICAN  NOTES. 

be  tenderly  or  favorably  received  by  the  American 
people ;  and,  as  I  have  written  the  Truth  in  relation 
to  the  mass  of  those  who  form  their  judgments  and 
express  their  opinions,  it  will  be  seen  that  I  have 
no  desire  to  court,  by  any  adventitious  means,  the 
popular  applause. 

It  is  enough  for  me  to  know  that  what  I  have  set 
down  in  these  pages  cannot  cost  me  a  single  friend 
on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic,  who  is,  in  any- 
thing, deserving  of  the  name.  For  the  rest,  I  put 
my  trust,  implicitly,  in  the  spirit  in  which  they 
have  been  conceived  and  penned;  and  I  can  bide 
my  time. 

I  have  made  no  reference  to  my  reception,  nor 
have  I  suffered  it  to  influence  me  in  what  I  have 
written;  for,  in  either  case,  I  should  have  offered 
but  a  sorry  acknowledgment,  compared  with  that  I 
bear  within  my  breast,  towards  those  partial  readers 
of  my  former  books  across  the  Water,  who  met  me 
with  an  open  hand,  and  not  with  one  that  closed 
upon  an  iron  muzzle. 


POSTSCRIPT. 


AT  a  Public  Dinner  given  to  me  on  Saturday,  the 
18th  of  April,  1868,  in  the  City  of  New  York,  by 
two  hundred  representatives  of  the  Press  of  the 
United  States  of  America,  I  made  the  following 
observations  among  others : 

"  So  much  of  my  voice  has  lately  been  heard  in 
the  land,  that  I  might  have  been  contented  with 
troubling  you  no  further  from  my  present  standing- 
point,  were  it  not  a  duty  with  which  I  henceforth 
charge  myself,  not  only  here,  but  on  every  suitable 
occasion,  whatsoever  and  wheresoever,  to  express 
my  high  and  grateful  sense  of  my  second  reception 
in  America,  and  to  bear  my  honest  testimony  to 
the  national  generosity  and  magnanimity.  Also,  to 
declare  how  astounded  I  have  been  by  the  amazing 
changes  I  have  seen  around  me  on  every  side,  — 
changes  moral,  changes  physical,  changes  in  the 
amount  of  land  subdued  and  peopled,  changes  in 
the  rise  of  vast  new  cities,  changes  in  the  growth 
of  older  cities  almost  out  of  recognition,  changes  in 
the  graces  and  amenities  of  life,  changes  in  the 

367 


368  POSTSCRIPT. 

Press,  without  whose  advancement  no  advancement 
can  take  place  anywhere.  Nor  am  I,  believe  me, 
so  arrogant  as  to  suppose  that  in  five  and  twenty 
years  there  have  been  no  changes  in  me,  and  that  I 
had  nothing  to  learn  and  no  extreme  impressions  to 
correct  when  I  was  here  first.  And  this  brings  me 
to  a  point  on  which  I  have,  ever  since  I  landed  in 
the  United  States  last  November,  observed  a  strict 
silence,  though  sometimes  tempted  to  break  it,  but 
in  reference  to  which  I  will,  with  your  good  leave, 
take  you  into  my  confidence  now.  Even  the  Press, 
being  human,  may  be  sometimes  mistaken  or  mis- 
informed, and  I  rather  think  that  I  have  in  one  or 
two  rare  instances  observed  its  information  to  be 
not  strictly  accurate  with  reference  to  myself.  In- 
deed, I  have,  now  and  again,  been  more  surprised  by 
printed  news  that  I  have  read  of  myself,  than  by 
any  printed  news  that  I  have  ever  read  in  my  pres- 
ent state  of  existence.  Thus,  the  vigor  and  perse- 
verance with  which  I  have  for  some  mouths  past 
been  collecting  materials  for,  and  hammering  away 
at,  a  new  book  on  America  has  much  astonished  me ; 
seeing  that  all  that  time  my  declaration  has  been 
perfectly  well  known  to  my  publishers  on  both  sides 
of  the  Atlantic,  that  no  consideration  on  earth  would 
induce  me  to  write  one.  But  what  I  have  intended, 
what  I  have  resolved  upon  (and  this  is  the  confi- 
dence I  seek  to  place  in  you)  is,  on  my  return  to 
England,  in  my  own  person,  in  my  own  Journal,  to 
bear,  for  the  behoof  of  my  countrymen,  such  testi- 


POSTSCRIPT.  369 

mony  to  the  gigantic  changes  in  this  country  as  I 
have  hinted  at  to-night.  Also,  to  record  that  wher- 
ever I  have  been,  in  the  smallest  places  equally  with 
the  largest,  I  have  been  received  with  unsurpassable 
politeness,  delicacy,  sweet  temper,  hospitality,  con- 
sideration, and  with  unsurpassable  respect  for  the 
privacy  daily  enforced  upon  me  by  the  nature  of  my 
avocation  here,  and  the  state  of  my  health.  This 
testimony,  so  long  as  I  live,  and  so  long  as  my  de- 
scendants have  any  legal  right  in  my  books,  I  shall 
cause  to  be  republished,  as  an  appendix  to  every 
copy  of  those  two  books  of  mine  in  which  I  have 
referred  to  America.  And  this  I  will  do  and  cause 
to  be  done,  not  in  mere  love  and  thankfulness,  but 
because  I  regard  it  as  an  act  of  plain  justice  and 
honor." 

I  said  these  words  with  the  greatest  earnestness 
that  I  could  lay  upon  them,  and  I  repeat  them  in 
print  here  with  equal  earnestness.  So  long  as  this 
book  shall  last,  I  hope  that  they  will  form  a  part  of 
it,  and  will  be  fairly  read  as  inseparable  from  my 
experiences  and  impressions  of  America. 

CHARLES  DICKENS. 
MAY,  1868. 

24 


HUNTED  DOWK 

[I860.] 


HUNTED  DOWK 


I.         ;. 

MOST  of  us  see  some  romances  in  life.  In  my 
capacity  as  Chief  Manager  of  a  Life  Assurance 
Office,  I  think  I  have  within  the  last  thirty  years 
seen  more  romances  than  the  generality  of  men, 
however  unpromising  the  opportunity  may,  at  first 
sight,  seem. 

As  I  have  retired,  and  live  at  my  ease,  I  possess 
the  means  that  I  used  to  want,  of  considering  what 
I  have  seen,  at  leisure.  My  experiences  have  a 
more  remarkable  aspect,  so  reviewed,  than  they  had 
when  they  were  in  progress.  I  have  come  home 
from  the  Play  now,  and  can  recall  the  scenes  of  the 
Drama  upon  which  the  curtain  has  fallen,  free  from 
the  glare,  bewilderment,  and  bustle  of  the  Theatre. 

Let  me  recall  one  of  these  Romances  of  the  real 
world. 

There  is  nothing  truer  than  physiognomy,  taken 
in  connection  with  manner.  The  art  of  reading  that 
book  of  which  Eternal  Wisdom  obliges  every  human 
creature  to  present  his  or  her  own  page  with  the 
individual  character  written  on  it,  is  a  difficult  one, 
perhaps,  and  is  little  studied.  It  may  require  some 
373 


374  HUNTED   DOWN. 

natural  aptitude,  and  it  must  require  (for  everything 
does)  some  patience  and  some  pains.  That  these 
are  not  usually  given  to  it,  —  that  numbers  of  peo- 
ple accept  a  few  stock  commonplace  expressions  of 
the  face  as  the  whole  list  of  characteristics,  and 
neither  seek  nor  know  the  refinements  that  are 
truest,  —  that  You,  for  instance,  give  a  great  deal 
of  time  and  attention  to  the  reading  of  music,  Greek, 
Latin,  French,  Italian,  Hebrew,  if  you  please,  and 
do  not  qualify  yourself  to  read  the  face  of  the  mas- 
ter or  mistress  looking  over  your  shoulder  teaching 
it  to  you,  —  I  assume  to  be  five  hundred  times  more 
probable  than  improbable.  Perhaps  a  little  self- 
sufficiency  may  be  at  the  bottom  of  this ;  facial  ex- 
pression requires  no  study  from  you,  you  think ;  it 
comes  by  nature  to  you  to  know  enough  about  it, 
and  you  are  not  to  be  taken  in. 

I  confess,  for  my  part,  that  I  have  been  taken  in, 
over  and  over  again.  I  have  been  taken  in  by 
acquaintances,  and  I  have  been  taken  in  (of  course) 
by  friends ;  far  oftener  by  friends  than  by  any  other 
class  of  persons.  How  came  I  to  be  so  deceived  ? 
Had  I  quite  misread  their  faces  ? 

No.  Believe  me,  my  first  impression  of  those 
people,  founded  on  face  and  manner  alone,  was  in- 
variably true.  My  mistake  was  in  suffering  them 
to  come  nearer  to  me,  and  explain  themselves  away. 

II. 

THE  partition  which  separated  my  own  office 
from  our  general  outer  office  in  the  City  was  of 
thick  plate  glass.  I  could  see  through  it  what 
passed  in  the  outer  office,  without  hearing  a  word. 


HUNTED  DOWN.  375 

I  had  it  put  tip  in  place  of  a  wall  that  had  been 
there  for  years, — ever  since  the  house  was  built. 
It  is  no  matter  whether  I  did  or  did  not  make  the 
change  in  order  that  I  might  derive  my  first  im- 
pression of  strangers,  who  came  to  us  on  business, 
from  their  faces  alone,  without  being  influenced  by 
anything  they  said.  Enough  to  mention  that  I 
turned  my  glass  partition  to  that  account,  and  that 
a  Life  Assurance  Office  is  at  all  times  exposed  to 
be  practised  upon  by  the  most  crafty  and  cruel  of 
the  human  race. 

It  was  through  my  glass  partition  that  I  first  saw 
the  gentleman  whose  story  I  am  going  to  tell. 

He  had  come  in  without  my  observing  it,  and  had 
put  his  hat  and  umbrella  on  the  broad  counter,  and 
was  bending  over  it  to  take  some  papers  from  one 
of  the  clerks.  He  was  about  forty  or  so,  dark,  ex- 
ceedingly well  dressed  in  black,  —  being  in  mourn- 
ing, —  and  the  hand  he  extended,  with  a  polite  air, 
had  a  particularly  well-fitting  black  kid  glove  upon 
it.  His  hair,  which  was  elaborately  brushed  and 
oiled,  was  parted  straight  up  the  middle ;  and  he 
presented  this  parting  to  the  clerk,  exactly  (to  my 
thinking)  as  if  he  had  said,  in  so  many  words,  — 
"  You  must  take  me,  if  you  please,  my  friend,  just 
as  I  show  myself.  Come  straight  up  here,  follow 
the  gravel  path,  keep  off  the  grass,  I  allow  no  tres- 
passing." 

I  conceived  a  very  great  aversion  to  that  man  the 
moment  I  thus  saw  him. 

He  had  asked  for  some  of  our  printed  forms,  and 
the  clerk  was  giving  them  to  him  and  explaining 
them.  An  obliged  and  agreeable  smile  was  on  his 
face,  and  his  eyes  met  those  of  the  clerk  with  a 


376  HUNTED  DOWN. 

sprightly  look.  (I  have  known  a  vast  quantity  of 
nonsense  talked  about  bad  men  not  looking  you  in 
the  face.  Don't  trust  that  conventional  idea.  Dis- 
honesty will  stare  honesty  out  of  countenance,  any 
day  in  the  week,  if  there  is  anything  to  be  got 
by  it.) 

I  saw,  in  the  corner  of  his  eyelash,  that  he  became 
aware  of  my  looking  at  him.  Immediately  he  turned 
the  parting  in  his  hair  toward  the  glass  partition, 
as  if  he  said  to  me  with  a  sweet  smile,  "  Straight  up 
here,  if  you  please.  Off  the  grass  !  " 

In  a  few  moments  he  had  put  on  his  hat  and 
taken  up  his  umbrella,  and  was  gone. 

I  beckoned  the  clerk  into  my  room,  and  asked, 
"Who  was  that?" 

He  had  the  gentleman's  card  in  his  hand.  "  Mr. 
Julius  Slinkton,  Middle  Temple." 

"  A  barrister,  Mr.  Adams  ?  " 

"I  think  not,  sir." 

"  I  should  have  thought  him  a  clergyman,  but  for 
his  having  no  Eeverend  here,"  said  I. 

"Probably,  from  his  appearance/'  Mr.  Adams 
replied,  "  he  is  reading  for  orders." 

I  should  mention  that  he  wore  a  dainty  white 
cravat,  and  dainty  linen  altogether. 

"What  did  he  want,  Mr.  Adams  ?" 

"Merely  a  form  of  proposal,  sir,  and  form  of 
reference." 

"  Kecommended  here  ?    Did  he  say  ?  " 

"Yes,  he  said  he  was  recommended  here  by  a 
friend  of  yours.  He  noticed  you,  but  said  that,  as 
he  had  not  the  pleasure  of  your  personal  acquaint- 
ance, he  would  not  trouble  you." 

"  Did  he  know  my  name  ?  " 


HUNTED   DOWN.  377 

"  Oh,  yes,  sir !  He  said,  '  There  is  Mr.  Sampson, 
I  see  ! ' " 

"  A  well-spoken  gentleman,  apparently  ?  " 

"Remarkably  so,  sir." 

"  Insinuating  manners,  apparently  ?  " 

"Very  much  so,  indeed,  sir." 

"  Hah  ! "  said  I.  "  I  want  nothing  at  present, 
Mr.  Adams." 

Within  a  fortnight  of  that  day  I  went  to  dine 
with  a  friend  of  mine,  a  merchant,  a  man  of  taste, 
who  buys  pictures  and  books ;  and  the  first  man  I 
saw  among  the  company  was  Mr.  Julius  Slinkton. 
There  he  was,  standing  before  the  fire,  with  good 
large  eyes  and  an  open  expression  of  face ;  but 
still  (I  thought)  requiring  everybody  to  come  at 
him  by  the  prepared  way  he  offered,  and  by  no 
other. 

I  noticed  him  ask  my  friend  to  introduce  him  to 
Mr.  Sampson,  and  my  friend  did  so.  Mr.  Slinkton 
was  very  happy  to  see  me.  Not  too  happy ;  there 
was  no  overdoing  the  matter ;  happy  in  a  thoroughly 
well-bred,  perfectly  unmeaning  way. 

"  I  thought  you  had  met,"  our  host  observed. 

"No/'  said  Mr.  Slinkton.  "  I  did  look  in  at  Mr. 
Sampson's  office,  on  your  recommendation ;  but  I 
really  did  not  feel  justified  in  troubling  Mr.  Samp- 
son himself,  on  a  point  in  the  every-day  routine  of 
an  ordinary  clerk." 

I  said  I  should  have  been  glad  to  show  him  any 
attention  on  our  friend's  introduction. 

"I  am  sure  of  that,"  said  he,  "and  am  much 
obliged.  At  another  time,  perhaps,  I  may  be  less 
delicate.  Only,  however,  if  I  have  real  business ;  for 
I  know,  Mr.  Sampson,  how  precious  business  time 


378  HUNTED   DOWN. 

is,  and  what  a  vast  number  of  impertinent  people 
there  are  in  the  world." 

I  acknowledged  his  consideration  with  a  slight 
bow.  "  You  were  thinking,"  said  I,  "  of  effecting 
a  policy  on  your  life." 

"  Oh  dear,  no  !  I  am  afraid  I  am  not  so  prudent 
as  you  pay  me  the  compliment  of  supposing  me  to 
be,  Mr.  Sampson.  I  merely  inquired  for  a  friend. 
But  you  know  what  friends  are  in  such  matters. 
Nothing  may  ever  come  of  it.  I  have  the  greatest 
reluctance  to  trouble  men  of  business  with  inquiries 
for  friends,  knowing  the  probabilities  to  be  a  thou- 
sand to  one  that  the  friends  will  never  follow  them 
up.  People  are  so  fickle,  so  selfish,  so  inconsider- 
ate. Don't  you,  in  your  business,  find  them  so 
every  day,  Mr.  Sampson  ?  " 

I  was  going  to  give  a  qualified  answer;  but  he 
turned  his  smooth,  white  parting  on  me,  with  its 
"  Straight  up  here,  if  you  please  ! "  and  I  answered 
"Yes." 

"I  hear,  Mr.  Sampson,"  he  resumed  presently, 
for  our  friend  had  a  new  cook,  and  dinner  was  not 
so  punctual  as  usual,  "that  your  profession  has 
recently  suffered  a  great  loss." 

"  In  money  ?  "  said  I. 

He  laughed  at  my  ready  association  of  loss 
with  money,  and  replied,  "No,  in  talent  and 
vigor." 

Not  at  once  following  out  his  allusion,  I  consid- 
ered for  a  moment.  "Has  it  sustained  a  loss  of 
that  kind  ?  "  said  I.  "I  was  not  aware  of  it." 

"  Understand  me,  Mr.  Sampson.  I  don't  imagine 
that  you  have  retired.  It  is  not  so  bad  as  that. 
But  Mr.  Meltham  — " 


HUNTED   DOWN.  379 

"  Oh,  to  be  sure  ! "  said  I.  "  Yes  !  Mr.  Meltham, 
the  young  actuary  of  the  *  Inestimable.'  " 

"Just  so,"  he  returned  in  a  consoling  way. 

"  He  is  a  great  loss.  He  was  at  once  the  most 
profound,  the  most  original,  and  the  most  energetic 
man  I  have  ever  known  connected  with  Life  Assur- 
ance." 

I  spoke  strongly ;  for  I  had  a  high  esteem  and 
admiration  for  Meltham ;  and  my  gentleman  had 
indefinitely  conveyed  to  me  some  suspicion  that  he 
wanted  to  sneer  at  him.  He  recalled  me  to  my 
guard  by  presenting  that  trim  pathway  up  his 
head,  with  its  infernal  "Not  on  the  grass,  if  you 
please  —  the  gravel." 

"  You  knew  him,  Mr.  Slinkton  ?  " 

"Only  by  reputation.  To  have  known  him  as  an 
acquaintance,  or  as  a  friend,  is  an  honor  I  should 
have  sought  if  he  had  remained  in  society,  though 
I  might  never  have  had  the  good  fortune  to  attain 
it,  being  a  man  of  far  inferior  mark.  He  was 
scarcely  above  thirty,  I  suppose  ?  " 

"  About  thirty." 

"  Ah ! "  he  sighed  in  his  former  consoling  way. 
"What  creatures  we  are  !  To  break  up,  Mr.  Samp- 
son, and  become  incapable  of  business  at  that  time 
of  life !  —  Any  reason  assigned  for  the  melancholy 
fact  ?  " 

('•Humph ! "  thought  I  as  I  looked  at  him.  " But 
I  WON'T  go  up  the  track,  and  I  WILL  go  on  the 
grass/') 

"What  reason  have  you  heard  assigned,  Mr. 
Slinkton  ?  "  I  asked  point-blank. 

"Most  likely  a  false  one.  You  know  what 
Kumor  is,  Mr.  Sampson.  I  never  repeat  what  I 


380  HUNTED   DOWN. 

hear ;  it  is  the  only  way  of  paring  the  nails  and 
shaving  the  head  of  Rumor.  But  when  you  ask 
me  what  reason  I  have  heard  assigned  for  Mr. 
Meltham's  passing  away  from  among  men,  it  is 
another  thing.  I  am  not  gratifying  idle  gossip  then. 
I  was  told,  Mr.  Sampson,  that  Mr.  Meltham  had  re- 
linquished all  his  avocations  and  all  his  prospects, 
because  he  was,  in  fact,  broken-hearted.  A  disap- 
pointed attachment  I  heard, — though  it  hardly 
seems  probable,  in  the  case  of  a  man  so  distin- 
guished and  so  attractive." 

"  Attractions  and  distinctions  are  no  armor 
against  death,''  said  I. 

"  Oh,  she  died  ?  Pray  pardon  me.  I  did  not 
hear  that.  That,  indeed,  makes  it  very,  very  sad. 
Poor  Mr.  Meltham !  She  died  ?  Ah,  dear  me ! 
Lamentable,  lamentable ! n 

I  still  thought  his  pity  was  not  quite  genuine, 
and  I  still  suspected  an  unaccountable  sneer  under 
all  this,  until  he  said,  as  we  were  parted,  like  the 
other  knots  of  talkers,  by  the  announcement  of 
dinner,  — 

"  Mr.  Sampson,  you  are  surprised  to  see  me  so 
moved  on  behalf  of  a  man  whom  I  have  never 
known.  I  am  not  so  disinterested  as  you  may  sup- 
pose. I  have  suffered,  and  recently  too,  from  death 
myself.  I  have  lost  one  of  two  charming  nieces, 
who  were  my  constant  companions.  She  died 
young  —  barely  three  and  twenty ;  and  even  her 
remaining  sister  is  far  from  strong.  The  world  is  a 
grave !  " 

He  said  this  with  deep  feeling,  and  I  felt  re- 
proached for  the  coldness  of  my  manner.  Coldness 
and  distrust  had  been  engendered  in  me,  I  knew,  by 


HUNTED   DOWN.  381 

my  bad  experiences ;  they  were  not  natural  to  me ; 
and  I  often  thought  how  much  I  had  lost  in  life, 
losing  trustfulness,  and  how  little  I  had  gained, 
gaining  hard  caution.  This  state  of  mind  being 
habitual  to  me,  I  troubled  myself  more  about  this 
conversation  than  I  might  have  troubled  myself 
about  a  greater  matter.  I  listened  to  his  talk  at 
dinner,  and  observed  how  readily  other  men  re- 
sponded to  it,  and  with  what  a  graceful  instinct  he 
adapted  his  subjects  to  the  knowledge  and  habits  of 
those  he  talked  with.  As,  in  talking  with  me,  he 
had  easily  started  the  subject  I  might  be  supposed 
to  understand  best,  and  to  be  the  most  interested  in, 
so,  in  talking  with  others,  he  guided  himself  by  the 
same  rule.  The  company  was  of  a  varied  charac- 
ter ;  but  he  was  not  at  fault,  that  I  could  discover, 
with  any  member  of  it.  He  knew  just  as  much  of 
each  man's  pursuit  as  made  him  agreeable  to  that 
man  in  reference  to  it,  and  just  as  little  as  made  it 
natural  in  him  to  seek  modestly  for  information 
when  the  theme  was  broached. 

As  he  talked  and  talked  —  but  really  not  too 
much,  for  the  rest  of  us  seemed  to  force  it  upon 
him  —  I  became  quite  angry  with  myself.  I  took 
his  face  to  pieces  in  my  mind,  like  a  watch,  and 
examined  it  in  detail.  I  could  not  say  much  against 
any  of  his  features  separately  ;  I  could  say  even 
less  against  them  when  they  were  put  together. 
"  Then  is  it  not  monstrous,"  I  asked  myself,  "  that 
because  a  man  happens  to  part  his  hair  straight  up 
the  middle  of  his  head,  I  should  permit  myself  to 
suspect,  and  even  to  detest  him  ?  " 

(I  may  stop  to  remark  that  this  was  no  proof  of 
my  sense.  An  observer  of  men  who  finds  himself 


382  HUNTED  DOWN. 

steadily  repelled  by  some  apparently  trifling  thing 
in  a  stranger  is  right  to  give  it  great  weight.  It 
may  be  the  clew  to  the  whole  mystery.  A  hair  or 
two  will  show  where  a  lion  is  hidden.  A  very  little 
key  will  open  a  very  heavy  door.) 

I  took  my  part  in  the  conversation  with  him 
after  a  time,  and  we  got  on  remarkably  well.  In 
the  drawing-room  I  asked  the  host  how  long  he  had 
known  Mr.  Slinktou.  He  answered,  not  many 
months;  he  had  met  him  at  the  house  of  a  cele- 
brated painter  then  present,  who  had  known  him 
well  when  he  was  travelling  with  his  nieces  in  Italy 
for  their  health.  His  plans  in  life  being  broken  by 
the  death  of  one  of  them,  he  was  reading  with  the 
intention  of  going  back  to  college  as  a  matter  of 
form,  taking  his  degree,  and  going  into  orders.  I 
could  not  but  argue  with  myself  that  here  was  the 
true  explanation  of  his  interest  in  poor  Meltham,  and 
that  I  had  been  almost  brutal  in  my  distrust  on 
that  simple  head. 

III. 

ON  the  very  next  day  but  one  I  was  sitting  be- 
hind my  glass  partition,  as  before,  when  he  came 
into  the  outer  office,  as  before.  The  moment  I 
saw  him  again  without  hearing  him,  I  hated  him 
worse  than  ever. 

It  was  only  for  a  moment  that  I  had  this  oppor- 
tunity ;  for  he  waved  his  tight-fitting  black  glove 
the  instant  I  looked  at  him,  and  came  straight  in. 

"  Mr.  Sampson,  good-day !  I  presume,  you  see, 
upon  your  kind  permission  to  intrude  upon  you.  I 
don't  keep  my  word  in  being  justified  by  business, 


HUNTED  DOWN.  383 

for  my  business  here  —  if  I  may  so  abuse  the  word 
—  is  of  the  slightest  nature." 

I  asked,  was  it  anything  I  could  assist  him  in  ? 

"I  thank  you,  no.  I  merely  called  to  inquire 
outside  whether  my  dilatory  friend  had  been  so 
false  to  himself  as  to  be  practical  and  sensible. 
But,  of  course,  he  has  done  nothing.  I  gave  him 
your  papers  with  my  own  hand,  and  he  was  hot 
upon  the  intention,  but  of  course  he  has  done  noth- 
ing. Apart  from  the  general  human  disinclination 
to  do  anything  that  ought  to  be  done,  I  dare  say 
there  is  a  specialty  about  assuring  one's  life.  You 
find  it  like  will-making.  People  are  so  superstitious, 
and  take  it  for  granted  they  will  die  soon  after- 
wards." 

"  Up  here,  if  you  please ;  straight  up  here,  Mr. 
Sampson.  Neither  to  the  right  nor  to  the  left."  I 
almost  fancied  I  could  hear  him  breathe  the  words 
as  he  sat  smiling  at  me,  with  that  intolerable  part- 
ing exactly  opposite  the  bridge  of  my  nose. 

"  There  is  such  a  feeling  sometimes,  no  doubt,".  I 
replied ;  "  but  I  don't  think  it  obtains  to  any  great 
extent." 

"  Well,"  said  he  with  a  shrug  and  a  smile,  "  I 
wish  some  good  angel  would  influence  my  friend  in 
the  right  direction.  I  rashly  promised  his  mother 
and  sister  in  Norfolk  to  see  it  done,  and  he  prom- 
ised them  that  he  would  do  it.  But  I  suppose  he 
never  will." 

He  spoke  for  a  minute  or  two  on  indifferent  topics, 
and  went  away. 

I  had  scarcely  unlocked  the  drawers  of  my  writ- 
ing-table next  morning,  when  he  re-appeared.  I 
noticed  that  he  came  straight  to  the  door  in  the 


384  HUNTED   DOWN. 

glass  partition,  and  did  not  pause  a  single  moment 
outside. 

"Can  you  spare  me  two  minutes,  my  dear  Mr. 
Sampson  ?  " 

"  By  all  means." 

"  Much  obliged,"  laying  his  hat  and  umbrella  on 
the  table.  "  I  came  early,  not  to  interrupt  you. 
The  fact  is,  I  am  taken  by  surprise  in  reference  to 
this  proposal  my  friend  has  made." 

"  Has  he  made  one  ?  "  said  I. 

"  Ye-es,"  he  answered,  deliberately  looking  at  me ; 
and  then  a  bright  idea  seemed  to  strike  him  —  "  or 
he  only  tells  me  he  has.  Perhaps  that  may  be  a 
new  way  of  evading  the  matter.  By  Jupiter,  I 
never  thought  of  that ! " 

Mr.  Adams  was  opening  the  morning's  letters  in 
the  outer  office.  "  What  is  the  name,  Mr.  Slink- 
ton  ?  "  I  asked. 

"  Beckwith." 

I  looked  out  at  the  door,  and  requested  Mr.  Adams, 
if  there  were  a  proposal  in  that  name,  to  bring  it  in. 
He  had  already  laid  it  out  of  his  hand  on  the  coun- 
ter. It  was  easily  selected  from  the  rest,  and  he 
gave  it  me.  Alfred  Beckwith.  Proposal  to  effect  a 
policy  with  us  for  two  thousand  pounds.  Dated 
yesterday. 

"  From  the  Middle  Temple,  I  see,  Mr.  Slinkton." 

"  Yes.  He  lives  on  the  same  staircase  with  me ; 
his  door  is  opposite.  I  never  thought  he  would 
make  me  his  reference,  though." 

"  It  seems  natural  enough  that  he  should." 

"  Quite  so,  Mr.  Sampson ;  but  I  never  thought  of  it. 
Let  me  see."  He  took  the  printed  paper  from  his 
pocket.  "  How  am  I  to  answer  all  these  questions  ?  " 


HUNTED  DOWN.  385 

"  According  to  the  truth,  of  course,"  said  I. 

"  Oh,  of  course  ! "  he  answered,  looking  up  from 
the  paper  with  a  smile.  "I  meant  they  were  so 
many.  But  you  do  right  to  be  particular.  It  stands 
to  reason  that  you  must  be  particular.  Will  you 
allow  me  to  use  your  pen  and  ink  ?  " 

"  Certainly." 

"  And  your  desk  ?  " 

"  Certainly." 

He  had  been  hovering  about  between  his  hat  and 
his  umbrella  for  a  place  to  write  on.  He  now  sat 
down  in  my  chair,  at  my  blotting-paper  and  ink- 
stand, with  the  long  walk  up  his  head  in  accurate 
perspective  before  me,  as  I  stood  with  my  back  to 
the  fire. 

Before  answering  each  question  he  ran  over  it 
aloud,  and  discussed  it.  How  long  had  he  known 
Mr.  Alfred  Beckwith  ?  That  he  had  to  calculate  by 
years  upon  his  fingers.  What  were  his  habits  ?  No 
difficulty  about  them ;  temperate  in  the  last  degree, 
and  took  a  little  too  much  exercise,  if  anything. 
All  the  answers  were  satisfactory.  When  he  had 
written  them  all,  he  looked  them  over,  and  finally 
signed  them  in  a  very  pretty  hand.  He  supposed 
he  had  now  done  with  the  business.  I  told  him  he 
was  not  likely  to  be  troubled  any  farther.  Should 
he  leave  the  papers  there  ?  If  he  pleased.  Much 
obliged.  Good-morning. 

I  had  had  one  other  visitor  before  him ;  not  at 
the  office,  but  at  my  own  house.  That  visitor  had 
come  to  my  bedside  when  it  was  not  yet  daylight, 
and  had  been  seen  by  no  one  else  but  my  faithful 
confidential  servant. 

A  second  reference  paper  (for  we  required  always 
25 


386  HUNTED   DOWN. 

two)  was  sent  down  into  Norfolk,  and  was  duly 
received  back  by  post.  This,  likewise,  was  satis- 
factorily answered  in  every  respect.  Our  forms 
were  all  complied  with ;  we  accepted  the  proposal, 
and  the  premium  for  one  year  was  paid. 

IV. 

FOB  six  or  seven  months  I  saw  no  more  of  Mr. 
Slinkton.  He  called  once  at  my  house,  but  I  was 
not  at  home  ;  and  he  once  asked  me  to  dine  with 
him  in  the  Temple,  but  I  was  engaged.  His  friend's 
assurance  was  effected  in  March.  Late  in  September, 
or  early  in  October,  I  was  down  at  Scarborough  for 
a  breath  of  sea  air,  where  I  met  him  on  the  beach. 
It  was  a  hot  evening ;  he  came  toward  me  with  his 
hat  in  his  hand;  and  there  was  the  walk  I  felt  so 
strongly  disinclined  to  take  in  perfect  order  again, 
exactly  in  front  of  the  bridge  of  my  nose. 

He  was  not  alone,  but  had  a  young  lady  on  his 
arm. 

She  was  dressed  in  mourning,  and  I  looked  at  her 
with  great  interest.  She  had  the  appearance  of 
being  extremely  delicate,  and  her  face  was  remark- 
ably pale  and  melancholy ;  but  she  was  very  pretty. 
He  introduced  her  as  his  niece,  Miss  Niner. 

"Are  you  strolling,  Mr.  Sampson  ?  Is  it  possible 
you  can  be  idle  ?  " 

Ibwas  possible,  and  I  was  strolling. 

«  Shall  we  stroll  together  ?  " 

"  With  pleasure." 

The  young  lady  walked  between  us,  and  we  walked 
on  the  cool  sea-sand,  in  the  direction  of  Filey. 

"  There  have  been  wheels  here,"  said  Mr.  Slink- 


HUNTED  DOWN.  387 

ton.  "  And  now  I  look  again,  the  wheels  of  a  hand- 
carriage  !  Margaret,  my  love,  your  shadow,  without 
doubt ! " 

"  Miss  Niner's  shadow  ?  "  I  repeated,  looking 
down  at  it  on  the  sand. 

"Not  that  one,"  Mr.  Slinkton  returned,  laughing. 
"  Margaret,  my  dear,  tell  Mr.  Sampson." 

"Indeed,"  said  the  young  lady,  turning  to  me, 
"  there  is  nothing  to  tell  —  except  that  I  constantly 
see  the  same  invalid  old  gentleman  at  all  times, 
wherever  I  go.  I  have  mentioned  it  to  my  uncle, 
and  he  calls  the  gentleman  my  shadow." 

"  Does  he  live  in  Scarborough  ?  "  I  asked. 

"  He  is  staying  here." 

"  Do  you  live  in  Scarborough  ?  " 

"No,  I  am  staying  here.  My  uncle  has  placed 
me  with  a  family  here,  for  my  health." 

"  And  your  shadow  ?  "  said  I,  smiling. 

"My  shadow,"  she  answered,  smiling  too,  "is  — 
like  myself  —  not  very  robust,  I  fear ;  for  I  lose  my 
shadow  sometimes,  as  my  shadow  loses  me  at  other 
times.  We  both  seem  liable  to  confinement  to  the 
house.  I  have  not  seen  my  shadow  for  days  and 
days ;  but  it  does  oddly  happen,  occasionally,  that 
wherever  I  go,  for  many  days  together,  this  gentle- 
man goes.  We  have  come  together  in  the  most 
unfrequented  nooks  on  this  shore." 

"  Is  this  he  ?  "  said  I,  pointing  before  us. 

The  wheels  had  swept  down  to  the  water's  edge, 
and  described  a  great  loop  on  the  sand  in  turning. 
Bringing  the  loop  back  towards  us,  and  spinning  it 
out  as  it  came,  was  a  hand-carriage,  drawn  by  a  man. 

"Yes,"  said  Miss  Niner,  "this  really  is  my 
shadow,  uncle." 


388  HUNTED  DOWN. 

As  the  carriage  approached  us,  and  we  approached 
the  carriage,  I  saw  within  it  an  old  man,  whose  head 
was  sunk  on  his  breast,  and  who  was  enveloped  in 
a  variety  of  wrappers.  He  was  drawn  by  a  very 
quiet  but  very  keen-looking  man,  with  iron-gray 
hair,  who  was  slightly  lame.  They  had  passed  us, 
when  the  carriage  stopped,  and  the  old  gentleman 
within,  putting  out  his  arm,  called  to  me  by  my 
name.  I  went  back,  and  was  absent  from  Mr. 
Slinkton  and  his  niece  for  about  five  minutes. 

When  I  rejoined  them,  Mr.  Slinkton  was  the  first 
to  speak.  Indeed,  he  said  to  me  in  a  raised  voice, 
before  I  came  up  with  him,  — 

"  It  is  well  you  have  not  been  longer,  or  my  niece 
might  have  died  of  curiosity  to  know  who  her 
shadow  is,  Mr.  Sampson." 

"  An  old  East  India  Director,"  said  I.  "  An  in- 
timate friend  of  our  friend's,  at  whose  house  I  first 
had  the  pleasure  of  meeting  you.  A  certain  Major 
Banks.  You  have  heard  of  him  ?  " 

"Never." 

"  Very  rich,  Miss  Niner ;  but  very  old,  and  very 
crippled.  An  amiable  man,  sensible  —  much  inter- 
ested in  you.  He  has  just  been  expatiating  on  the 
affection  that  he  has  observed  to  exist  between  you 
and  your  uncle." 

Mr.  Slinkton  was  holding  his  hat  again,  and  he 
passed  his  hand  up  the  straight  walk,  as  if  he  him- 
self went  up  it  serenely  after  me. 

"Mr.  Sampson,"  he  said,  tenderly  pressing  his 
niece's  arm  in  his,  "our  affection  was  always  a 
strong  one,  for  we  have  had  but  few  near  ties.  We 
have  still  fewer  now.  We  have  associations  to 
bring  us  together,  that  are  not  of  this  world,  Mar- 
garet." 


HUNTED  DOWN.  389 

"Dear  uncle!"  murmured  the  young  lady,  and 
turned  her  face  aside  to  hide  her  tears. 

"My  niece  and  I  have  such  remembrances  and 
regrets  in  common,  Mr.  Sampson,"  he  feelingly  pur- 
sued, "  that  it  would  be  strange  indeed  if  the  rela- 
tions between  us  were  cold  or  indifferent.  If  I  re- 
member a  conversation  we  once  had  together,  you 
will  understand  the  reference  I  make.  Cheer  up, 
dear  Margaret.  Don't  droop,  don't  droop.  My 
Margaret !  I  cannot  bear  to  see  you  droop ! " 

The  poor  young  lady  was  very  much  affected,  but 
controlled  herself.  His  feelings,  too,  were  very 
acute.  In  a  word,  he  found  himself  under  such 
great  need  of  a  restorative,  that  he  presently  went 
away,  to  take  a  bath  of  sea-water,  leaving  the  young 
lady  and  me  sitting  by  a  point  of  rock,  and  probably 
presuming  —  but  that  you  will  say  was  a  pardonable 
indulgence  in  a  luxury  —  that  she  would  praise  him 
with  all  her  heart. 

She  did,  poor  thing !  With  all  her  confiding 
heart,  she  praised  him  to  me,  for  his  care  of  her 
dead  sister,  and  for  his  untiring  devotion  in  her  last 
illness.  The  sister  had  wasted  away  very  slowly, 
and  wild  and  terrible  fantasies  had  come  over  her 
toward  the  end,  but  he  had  never  been  impatient 
with  her,  or  at  a  loss ;  had  always  been  gentle, 
watchful,  and  self-possessed.  The  sister  had  known 
him,  as  she  had  known  him,  to  be  the  best  of  men, 
the  kindest  of  men,  and  yet  a  man  of  such  admirable 
strength  of  character,  as  to  be  a  very  tower  for  the 
support  of  their  weak  natures  while  their  poor 
lives  endured. 

"I  shall  leave  him,  Mr.  Sampson,  very  soon," 
said  the  young  lady  ;  "  I  know  my  life  is  drawing  to 


390  HUNTED  DOWN. 

an  end  ;  and,  when  I  am  gone,  I  hope  he  will  marry 
and  be  happy.  I  am  sure  he  has  lived  single  so 
long,  only  for  my  sake,  and  for  my  poor,  poor 
sister's." 

The  little  hand-carriage  had  made  another  great 
loop  on  the  damp  sand,  and  was  coming  back  again, 
gradually  spinning  out  a  slim  figure  of  eight,  half  a 
mile  long. 

"  Young  lady,"  said  I,  looking  around,  laying  my 
hand  upon  her  arm,  and  speaking  in  a  low  voice, 
"time  presses.  You  hear  the  gentle  murmur  of 
that  sea  ?  " 

She  looked  at  me  with  the  utmost  wonder  and 
alarm,  saying,  — 

"  Yes  !  " 

"  And  you  know  what  a  voice  is  in  it  when  the 
storm  comes  ?  " 

"Yes!" 

"  You  see  how  quiet  and  peaceful  it  lies  before  us, 
and  you  know  what  an  awful  sight  of  power  with- 
out pity  it  might  be,  this  very  night  ?  " 

"  Yes ! " 

"  But  if  you  had  never  heard  or  seen  it,  or  heard 
of  it  in  its  cruelty,  could  you  believe  that  it  beats 
every  inanimate  thing  in  its  way  to  pieces,  without 
mercy,  and  destroys  life  without  remorse  ?  " 

"  You  terrify  me,  sir,  by  these  questions  ! " 

"  To  save  you,  young  lady,  to  save  you !  For 
God's  sake,  collect  your  strength  and  collect  your 
firmness !  If  you  were  here  alone,  and  hemmed  in 
by  the  rising  tide  on  the  flow  to  fifty  feet  above 
your  head,  you  could  not  be  in  greater  danger  than 
the  danger  you  are  now  to  be  saved  from." 

The  figure  on  the  sand  was  spun  out,  and  straggled 


HUNTED  DOWN.  391 

off  into  a  crooked  little  jerk  that  ended  at  the  cliff 
very  near  us. 

"  As  I  am,  "before  Heaven  and  the  Judge  of  all 
mankind,  your  friend,  and  your  dead  sister's  friend, 
I  solemnly  entreat  you,  Miss  Miier,  without  one 
moment's  loss  of  time,  to  come  to  this  gentleman 
with  me  ! " 

If  the  little  carriage  had  been  less  near  to  us,  I 
doubt  if  I  could  have  got  her  away ;  but  it  was  so 
near  that  we  were  there  before  she  had  recovered 
the  hurry  of  being  urged  from  the  rock.  I  did  not 
remain  there  with  her  two  minutes.  Certainly 
within  five,  I  had  the  inexpressible  satisfaction  of 
seeing  her  —  from  the  point  we  had  sat  on,  and  to 
which  I  had  returned  —  half  supported  and  half 
carried  up  some  rude  steps  notched  in  the  cliff,  by 
the  figure  of  an  active  man.  With  that  figure 
beside  her  I  knew  she  was  safe  anywhere. 

I  sat  alone  on  the  rock,  awaiting  Mr.  Slinkton's 
return.  The  twilight  was  deepening,  and  the 
shadows  were  heavy,  when  he  came  round  the  point, 
with  his  hat  hanging  at  his  button-hole,  smooth- 
ing his  wet  hair  with  one  of  his  hands,  and  pick- 
ing out  the  old  path  with  the  other  and  a  pocket- 
comb. 

"  My  niece  not  here,  Mr.  Sampson  ?  "  he  said, 
looking  about. 

"  Miss  Niner  seemed  to  feel  a  chill  in  the  air  after 
the  sun  was  down,  and  has  gone  home." 

He  looked  surprised,  as  though  she  were  not 
accustomed  to  do  anything  without  him;  even  to 
originate  so  slight  a  proceeding. 

"  I  persuaded  Miss  Niner,"  I  explained. 

"Ah!  "said  he.     "She  is  easily  persuaded  —  for 


392  HUNTED    DOWN. 

her  good.  Thank  you,  Mr.  Sampson ;  she  is  better 
within  doors.  The  bathing-place  was  farther  than 
I  thought,  to  say  the  truth." 

"  Miss  Niner  is  very  delicate,"  I  observed. 

He  shook  his  head  and  drew  a  deep  sigh.  "Very, 
very,  very.  You  may  recollect  my  saying  so.  The 
time  that  has  since  intervened  has  not  strengthened 
her.  The  gloomy  shadow  that  fell  upon  her  sister 
so  early  in  life  seems,  in  my  anxious  eyes,  to  gather 
over  her,  ever  darker,  ever  darker.  Dear  Margaret, 
dear  Margaret !  But  we  must  hope." 

The  hand-carriage  was  spinning  away  before  us  at 
a  most  indecorous  pace  for  an  invalid  vehicle,  and 
was  making  most  irregular  curves  upon  the  sand. 
Mr.  Slinkton,  noticing  it  after  he  had  put  his  hand- 
kerchief to  his  eyes,  said,  — 

"  If  I  may  judge  from  appearances,  your  friend 
will  be  upset,  Mr.  Sampson." 

"  It  looks  probable,  certainly,"  said  I. 

"  The  servant  must  be-  drunk." 

"  The  servants  of  old  gentlemen  will  get  drunk 
sometimes,"  said  I. 

"The  major  draws  very  light,  Mr.  Sampson." 

"The  major  does  draw  light,"  said  I. 

By  this  time  the  carriage,  much  to  my  relief,  was 
lost  in  the  darkness.  We  walked  on  for  a  little, 
side  by  side  over  the  sand,  in  silence.  After  a  short 
while  he  said,  in  a  voice  still  affected  by  the  emotion 
that  his  niece's  state  of  health  had  awakened  in 
him,  — 

"  Do  you  stay  here  long,  Mr.  Sampson  ?  " 

"  Why,  no.     I  am  going  away  to-night." 

"So  soon?  But  business  always  holds  you  in 
request.  Men  like  Mr.  Sampson  are  too  important 


HUNTED   DOWN.  393 

to  others  to  be  spared  to  their  own  need  of  relaxation 
and  enjoyment." 

"I  don't  know  about  that,"  said  I.  "However, 
I  am  going  back." 

"To  London?" 

"To  London." 

"  I  shall  be  there,  too,  soon  after  you." 

I  knew  that  as  well  as  he  did.  But  I  did  not 
tell  him  so.  Any  more  than  I  told  him  what  defen- 
sive weapon  my  right  hand  rested  on  in  my  pocket, 
as  I  walked  by  his  side.  Any  more  than  I  told  him 
why  I  did  not  walk  on  the  sea  side  of  him  with  the 
night  closing  in. 

We  left  the  beach,  and  our  ways  diverged.  We 
exchanged  good-night,  and  had  parted  indeed,  when 
he  said,  returning,  — 

"  Mr.  Sampson,  may  I  ask  ?  Poor  Meltham, 
whom  we  spoke  of,  —  dead  yet  ?  " 

"  Not  when  I  last  heard  of  him ;  but  too  broken 
a  man  to  live  long,  and  hopelessly  lost  to  his  old 
calling." 

"  Dear,  dear,  dear ! "  said  he  with  great  feeling. 
"  Sad,  sad,  sad  !  The  world  is  a  grave  !  "  And  so 
went  his  way. 

It  was  not  his  fault  if  the  world  were  not  a  grave ; 
but  I  did  not  call  that  observation  after  him,  any 
more  than  I  had  mentioned  those  other  things  just 
now  enumerated.  He  went  his  way,  and  I  went 
mine  with  all  expedition.  This  happened,  as  I  have 
said,  either  at  the  end  of  September,  or  beginning 
of  October.  The  next  time  I  saw  him,  and  the  last 
time,  was  late  in  November. 


394  HUNTED  DOWN. 


V. 

I  HAD  a  very  particular  engagement  to  breakfast 
in  the  Temple.  It  was  a  bitter  northeasterly  morn- 
ing, and  the  sleet  and  slush  lay  inches  deep  in  the 
streets.  I  could  get  no  conveyance,  and  was  soon 
wet  to  the  knees ;  but  I  should  have  been  true  to 
that  appointment,  though  I  had  to  wade  to  it  up 
to  my  neck  in  the  same  impediments. 

The  appointment  took  me  to  some  chambers  in 
the  Temple.  They  were  at  the  top  of  a  lonely  cor- 
ner house  overlooking  the  river.  The  name,  MR. 
ALFRED  BECKWITH,  was  painted  on  the  outer  door. 
On  the  door  opposite,  on  the  same  landing,  the  name 
MR.  JULIUS  SLINKTON.  The  doors  of  both  sets  of 
chambers  stood  open,  so  that  anything  said  aloud 
in  one  set  could  be  heard  in  the  other. 

I  had  never  been  in  those  chambers  before.  They 
were  dismal,  close,  unwholesome,  and  oppressive ; 
the  furniture,  originally  good,  and  not  yet  old,  was 
faded  and  dirty  ;  the  rooms  were  in  great  disorder ; 
there  was  a  strong  prevailing  smell  of  opium, 
brandy,  and  tobacco ;  the  grate  and  fire-irons  were 
splashed  all  over  with  unsightly  blotches  of  rust; 
and  on  a  sofa  by  the  fire,  in  the  room  where  break- 
fast had  been  prepared,  lay  the  host,  Mr.  Beckwith, 
a  man  with  all  the  appearances  of  the  worst  kind  of 
drunkard,  very  far  advanced  upon  his  shameful  way 
to  death. 

"Slinkton  is  not  come  yet,"  said  this  creature, 
staggering  up  when  I  went  in ;  "  I'll  call  him.  — 
Halloa !  Julius  Caesar !  Come  and  drink !  "  As  he 
hoarsely  roared  this  out,  he  beat  the  poker  and 


HUNTED  DOWN.  395 

tongs  together  in  a  mad  way,  as  if  that  were  his 
usual  manner  of  summoning  his  associate. 

The  voice  of  Mr.  Slinkton  was  heard  through  the 
clatter  from  the  opposite  side  of  the  staircase,  and 
he  came  in.  He  had  not  expected  the  pleasure  of 
meeting  me.  I  have  seen  several  artful  men 
brought  to  a  stand,  but  I  never  saw  a  man  so  aghast 
as  he  was  when  his  eyes  rested  on  mine. 

"Julius  Caesar,"  cried  Beckwith,  staggering  be- 
tween us,  "  Mist'  Sampson  !  Mist'  Sampson,  Julius 
Caesar !  Julius,  Mist'  Sampson,  is  the  friend  of  my 
soul.  Julius  keeps  me  plied  with  liquor,  morning, 
noon,  and  night.  Julius  is  a  real  benefactor. 
Julius  threw  the  tea  and  coffee  out  of  window  when 
I  used  to  have  any.  Julius  empties  all  the  water 
jugs  of  their  contents,  and  fills  'em  with  spirits. 
Julius  winds  me  up  and  keeps  me  going.  —  Boil  the 
brandy,  Julius !  '* 

There  was  a  rusty  and  furred  saucepan  in  the 
ashes,  —  the  ashes  looked  like  the  accumulation  of 
weeks,  —  and  Beckwith,  rolling  and  staggering 
between  us  as  if  he  were  going  to  plunge  headlong 
into  the  fire,  got  the  saucepan  out,  and  tried  to 
force  it  into  Slinkton's  hand. 

"  Boil  the  brandy,  Julius  Caesar !  Come !  Do 
your  usual  office.  Boil  the  brandy  ! " 

He  became  so  fierce  in  his  gesticulations  with  the 
saucepan,  that  I  expected  to  see  him  lay  open 
Slinkton's  head  with  it.  I  therefore  put  out  my 
hand  to  check  him.  He  reeled  back  to  the  sofa, 
and  sat  there  panting,  shaking,  and  red-eyed,  in 
his  rags  of  dressing-gown,  looking  at  us  both.  I 
noticed  then  that  there  was  nothing  to  drink  on 
the  table  but  brandy,  and  nothing  to  eat  but 


396  HUNTED   DOWN. 

salted  herrings,  and  a  hot,  sickly,  highly  peppered 
stew. 

"At  all  events,  Mr.  Sampson,"  said  Slinkton, 
offering  me  the  smooth  gravel  path  for  the  last 
time,  "  I  thank  you  for  interfering  between  me  and 
this  unfortunate  man's  violence.  However  you 
came  here,  Mr.  Sampson,  or  with  whatever  motive 
you  came  here,  at  least  I  thank  you  for  that." 

"Boil  the  brandy,"  muttered  Beckwith. 

Without  gratifying  his  desire  to  know  how  I 
came  there,  I  said  quietly,  "How  is  your  niece, 
Mr.  Slinkton  ?  " 

He  looked  hard  at  me,  and  I  looked  hard  at  him. 

"  I  am  sorry  to  say,  Mr.  Sampson,  that  my  niece 
has  proved  treacherous  and  ungrateful  to  her  best 
friend.  She  left  me  without  a  word  of  notice  or 
explanation.  She  was  misled,  no  doubt,  by  some 
designing  rascal.  Perhaps  you  may  have  heard 
of  it  ?  "  • 

"  I  did  hear  that  she  was  misled  by  a  designing 
rascal.  In  fact,  I  have  proof  of  it." 

"  Are  you  sure  of  that  ?  "  said  he. 

"Quite." 

"Boil  the  brandy,"  muttered  Beckwith.  "Com- 
pany to  breakfast,  Julius  Caesar.  Do  your  usual 
office,  —  provide  the  usual  breakfast,  dinner,  tea, 
and  supper.  Boil  the  brandy  !  " 

The  eyes  of  Slinkton  looked  from  him  to  me,  and 
he  said,  after  a  moment's  consideration,  — 

"  Mr.  Sampson,  you  are  a  man  of  the  world,  and 
so  am  I.  I  will  be  plain  with  you." 

"  Oh,  no,  you  won't ! "  said  I,  shaking  my  head. 

"  I  tell  you,  sir,  I  will  be  plain  with  you." 

"  And  I  tell  you  you  will  not,"  said  I.     "  I  know 


HUNTED   DOWN.  397 

all  about  you.  You  plain  with,  any  one  ?  Non- 
sense, nonsense ! " 

"  I  plainly  tell  you,  Mr.  Sampson,"  he  went  on, 
with  a  manner  almost  composed,  "that  I  under- 
stand your  object.  You  want  to  save  your  funds, 
and  escape  from  your  liabilities ;  these  are  old 
tricks  of  trade  with  you  Office  gentlemen.  But  you 
will  not  do  it,  sir ;  you  will  not  succeed.  You  have 
not  an  easy  adversary  to  play  against,  when  you 
play  against  me.  We  shall  have  to  inquire,  in  due 
time,  when  and  how  Mr.  Beckwith  fell  into  his 
present  habits.  With  that  remark,  sir,  I  put  this 
poor  creature,  and  his  incoherent  wanderings  of 
speech,  aside,  and  wish  you  a  good-morning  and 
a  better  case  next  time." 

While  he  was  saying  this,  Beckwith  had  filled  a 
half-pint  glass  with  brandy.  At  this  moment,  he 
threw  the  brandy  at  his  face,  and  threw  the  glass 
after  it.  Slinkton  put  his  hands  up,  half  blinded 
with  the  spirit,  and  cut  with  the  glass  across  the 
forehead.  At  the  sound  of  the  breakage,  a  fourth 
person  came  into  the  room,  closed  the  door,  and 
stood  at  it.  He  was  a  very  quiet,  but  very  keen- 
looking  man,  with  iron-gray  hair,  and  slightly  lame. 

Slinkton  pulled  out  his  handkerchief,  assuaged  the 
pain  in  his  smarting  eyes,  and  dabbled  the  blood  on 
his  forehead.  He  was  a  long  time  about  it,  and  I 
saw  that  in  the  doing  of  it  a  tremendous  change 
came  over  him,  occasioned  by  the  change  in  Beck- 
with,—  who  ceased  to  pant  and  tremble,  sat  up- 
right, and  never  took  his  eyes  off  him.  I  never  in 
my  life  saw  a  face  in  which  abhorrence  and  deter- 
mination were  so  forcibly  painted  as  in  Beckwith's 
then. 


398  HUNTED  DOWN. 

"Look  at  me,  you  villain,"  said  Beckwith,  "and 
see  me  as  I  really  am  !  I  took  these  rooms  to  make 
them  a  trap  for  you.  I  came  into  them  as  a  drunk- 
ard, to  bait  the  trap  for  you.  You  fell  into  the 
trap,  and  you  will  never  leave  it  alive.  On  the 
morning  when  you  last  went  to  Mr.  Sampson's 
office,  I  had  seen  him  first.  Your  plot  has  been 
known  to  both  of  us  all  along,  and  you  have  been 
counter-plotted  all  along.  What !  Having  been 
cajoled  into  putting  that  prize  of  two  thousand 
pounds  in  your  power,  I  was  to  be  done  to  death 
with  brandy,  and,  brandy  not  proving  quick  enough, 
with  something  quicker  ?  Have  I  never  seen  you, 
when  you  thought  my  senses  gone,  pouring  from 
your  little  bottle  into  my  glass  ?  Why,  you  Mur- 
derer and  Forger,  alone  here  with  you  in  the  dead 
of  night,  as  I  have  so  often  been,  I  have  had  my 
hand  upon  the  trigger  of  a  pistol,  twenty  times,  to 
blow  your  brains  out ! " 

This  sudden  starting  up  of  the  thing  that  he  had 
supposed  to  be  his  imbecile  victim  into  a  determined 
man,  with  a  settled  resolution  to  hunt  him  down  and 
be  the  death  of  him,  mercilessly  expressed  from  head 
to  foot,  was,  in  the  first  shock,  too  much  for  him. 
Without  any  figure  of  speech,  he  staggered  under 
it.  But  there  is  no  greater  mistake  than  to  sup- 
pose that  a  man  who  is  a  calculating  criminal  is,  in 
any  phase  of  his  guilt,  otherwise  than  true  to  him- 
self, and  perfectly  consistent  with  his  whole  charac^ 
ter.  Such  a  man  commits  murder,  and  murder  is 
the  natural  culmination  of  his  course ;  such  a  man 
has  to  outface  murder,  and  will  do  it  with  hardi- 
hood and  effrontery.  It  is  a  sort  of  fashion  to  ex- 
press surprise  that  any  notorious  criminal,  having 


HUNTED  DOWN.  399 

such  crime  upon  his  conscience,  can  so  brave  it  out. 
Do  you  think  that  if  he  had  it  on  his  conscience  at 
all,  or  had  a  conscience  to  have  it  upon,  he  would 
ever  have  committed  the  crime  ? 

Perfectly  consistent  with  himself,  as  I  believe  all 
such  monsters  to  be,  this  Slinkton  recovered  him- 
self, and  showed  a  defiance  that  was  sufficiently 
cold  and  quiet.  He  was  white,  he  was  haggard,  he 
was  changed ;  but  only  as  a  sharper  who  had  played 
for  a  great  stake,  and  had  been  outwitted  and  had 
lost  the  game. 

"Listen  to  me,  you  villain,"  said  Beckwith,  "and 
let  every  word  you  hear  me  say  be  a  stab  in  your 
wicked  heart.  When  I  took  these  rooms,  to  throw 
myself  in  your  way  and  lead  you  on  to  the  scheme 
that  I  knew  my  appearance  arid  supposed  character 
and  habits  would  suggest  to  such  a  devil,  how  did  I 
know  that  ?  Because  you  were  no  stranger  to  me. 
I  knew  you  well.  And  I  knew  you  to  be  the  cruel 
wretch  who,  for  so  much  money,  had  killed  one 
innocent  girl  while  she  trusted  him  implicitly,  and 
who  was  by  inches  killing  another." 

Slinkton  took  out  a  snuff-box,  took  a  pinch  of 
snuff,  and  laughed. 

"  But  see  here,"  said  Beckwith,  never  looking  away, 
never  raising  his  voice,  never  relaxing  his  face,  never 
unclenching  his  hand.  "  See  what  a  dull  wolf  you 
have  been,  after  all !  The  infatuated  drunkard  who 
never  drank  a  fiftieth  part  of  the  liquor  you  plied 
him  with,  but  poured  it  away,  here,  there,  everywhere 
—  almost  before  your  eyes;  who  bought  over  the 
fellow  you  set  to  watch  him  and  to  ply  him,  by 
outbidding  you  in  his  bribe,  before  he  had  been  at 
his  work  three  days  —  with  whom  you  have  observed 


400  HUNTED   DOWN. 

no  caution,  yet  who  was  so  bent  on  ridding  the  earth 
of  you  as  a  wild  beast,  that  he  would  have  defeated 
you  if  you  had  been  ever  so  prudent  —  that  drunkard 
whom  you  have,  many  a  time,  left  on  the  floor  of 
this  room,  and  who  has  even  let  you  go  out  of  it, 
alive  and  undeceived,  when  you  have  turned  him 
over  with  your  foot  —  has,  almost  as  often,  on  the 
same  night,  within  an  hour,  within  a  few  minutes, 
watched  you  awake,  had  his  hand  at  your  pillow 
when  you  were  asleep,  turned  over  your  papers, 
taken  samples  from  your  bottles  and  packets  of 
powder,  changed  their  contents,  rifled  every  secret 
of  your  life  ! " 

He  had  had  another  pinch  of  snuff  in  his  hand, 
but  had  gradually  let  it  drop  from  between  his  fin- 
gers to  the  floor ;  where  he  now  smoothed  it  out 
with  his  foot,  looking  down  at  it  the  while. 

"That  drunkard,"  said  Beckwith,  "who  had  free 
access  to  your  rooms  at  all  times,  that  he  might 
drink  the  strong  drinks  that  you  left  in  his  way, 
and  be  the  sooner  ended,  holding  no  more  terms 
with  you  than  he  would  hold  with  a  tiger,  has  had 
his  master  key  for  all  your  locks,  his  tests  for  all 
your  poisons,  his  clew  to  your  cipher-writing.  He 
can  tell  you,  as  well  as  you  can  tell  him,  how  long 
it  took  to  complete  that  deed,  what  doses  there 
were,  what  intervals,  what  signs  of  gradual  decay 
upon  mind  and  body;  what  distempered  fancies 
were  produced,  what  observable  changes,  what  physi- 
cal pain.  He  can  tell  you,  as  well  as  you  can  tell 
him,  that  all  this  was  recorded  day  by  day  as  a  les- 
son of  experience  for  future  service.  He  can  tell 
you,  better  than  you  can  tell  him,  where  that  jour- 
nal is  at  this  moment." 


HUNTED  DOWN.  401 

Slinkton  stopped  the  action  of  his  foot,  and  looked 
at  Beckwith. 

"  No,"  said  the  latter,  as  if  answering  a  question 
from  him.  "Not  in  the  drawer  of  the  writing-desk 
that  opens  with  a  spring ;  it  is  not  there,  and  it 
never  will  be  there  again." 

"  Then  you  are  a  thief ! "  said  Slinkton. 

Without  any  change  whatever  in  the  inflexible 
purpose,  which  it  was  quite  terrific  even  to  me  to 
contemplate,  and  from  the  power  of  which  I  had 
always  felt  convinced  it  was  impossible  for  this 
wretch  to  escape,  Beckwith  returned,  — 

"  And  I  am  your  niece's  shadow,  too." 

With  an  imprecation  Slinkton  put  his  hand  to  his 
head,  tore  out  some  hair,  and  flung  it  to  the  ground. 
It  was  the  end  of  the  smooth  walk ;  he  destroyed 
it  in  the  action,  and  it  will  soon  be  seen  that  his  use 
for  it  was  past. 

Beckwith  went  on :  "  Whenever  you  left  here,  I 
left  here.  Although  I  understood  that  you  found 
it  necessary  to  pause  in  the  completion  of  that  pur- 
pose, to  avert  suspicion,  still  I  watched  you  close, 
with  the  poor  confiding  girl.  When  I  had  the  diary, 
and  could  read  it  word  for  word,  —  it  was  only  about 
the  night  before  your  last  visit  to  Scarborough,  — 
you  remember  the  night  ?  you  slept  with  a  small 
flat  vial  tied  to  your  wrist,  —  I  sent  to  Mr.  Samp- 
son, who  was  kept  out  of  view.  This  is  Mr.  Samp- 
son's trusty  servant  standing  by  the  door.  We 
three  saved  your  niece  among  us." 

Slinkton  looked  at  us  all,  took  an  uncertain  step 

or  two  from  the  place  where  he  had  stood,  returned 

to  it,  and  glanced  about  him  in  a  very  curious  way,  — 

as  one  of  the  meaner  reptiles  might,  looking  for  a 

26 


402  HUNTED   DOWN. 

hole  to  hide  in.  I  noticed,  at  the  same  time,  that  a 
singular  change  took  place  in  the  figure  of  the  man 
—  as  if  it  collapsed  within  his  clothes,  and  they 
consequently  became  ill-shapen  and  ill-fitting. 

"You  shall  know,"  said  Beckwith,  "for  I  hope 
the  knowledge  will  be  bitter  and  terrible  to  you, 
why  you  have  been  pursued  by  one  man,  and  why, 
when  the  whole  interest  that  Mr.  Sampson  repre- 
sents would  have  expended  any  money  in  hunting 
you  down,  you  have  been  tracked  to  death  at  a  sin- 
gle individual's  charge.  I  hear  you  have  had  the 
name  of  Meltham  on  yoiir  lips  sometimes  ?  " 

I  saw,  in  addition  to  those  other  changes,  a  sud- 
den stoppage  come  upon  his  breathing. 

"When  you  sent  the  sweet  girl  whom  you  mur- 
dered (you  know  with  what  artfully  made-out 
surroundings  and  probabilities  you  sent  her)  to 
Meltham's  office,  before  taking  her  abroad  to  ori- 
ginate the  transaction  that  doomed  her  to  the  grave, 
it  fell  to  Meltham's  lot  to  see  her  and  to  speak  with 
her.  It  did  not  fall  to  his  lot  to  save  her,  though  I 
know  he  would  freely  give  his  own  life  to  have  done 
it.  He  admired  her ;  —  I  would  say  he  loved  her 
deeply,  if  I  thought  it  possible  that  you  could 
understand  the  word.  When  she  was  sacrificed,  he 
was  thoroughly  assured  of  your  guilt.  Having  lost 
her,  he  had  but  one  object  left  in  life,  and  that  was 
to  avenge  her  and  destroy  you." 

I  saw  the  villain's  nostrils  rise  and  fall  convul- 
sively ;  but  I  saw  no  moving  at  his  mouth. 

"  That  man  Meltham,"  Beckwith  steadily  pursued, 
"was  as  absolutely  certain  that  you  could  never 
elude  him  in  this  world,  if  he  devoted  himself  to 
your  destruction  with  his  utmost  fidelity  and  ear- 


HUNTED  DOWN.  403 

nestness,  and  if  he  divided  the  sacred  duty  with  no 
other  duty  in  life,  as  he  was  certain  that  in  achiev- 
ing it  he  would  be  a  poor  instrument  in  the  hands 
of  Providence,  and  would  do  well  before  Heaven  in 
striking  you  out  from  among  living  men.  I  am  that 
man,  and  I  thank  God  that  I  have  done  my  work  ! " 

If  Slinkton  had  been  running  for  his  life  from 
swift-footed  savages,  a  dozen  miles,  he  could  not 
have  shown  more  emphatic  signs  of  being  oppressed 
at  heart  and  laboring  for  breath  than  he  showed  now, 
when  he  looked  at  the  pursuer  who  had  so  relent- 
lessly hunted  him  down. 

"  You  never  saw  me  under  my  right  name  before ; 
you  see  me  under  my  right  name  now.  You  shall 
see  me  once  again  in  the  body,  when  you  are  tried 
for  your  life.  You  shall  see  me  once  again  in  the 
spirit,  when  the  cord  is  round  your  neck,  and  the 
crowd  are  crying  against  you !  " 

When  Meltham  had  spoken  these  last  words,  the 
miscreant  suddenly  turned  away  his  face,  and  seemed 
to  strike  his  mouth  with  his  open  hand.  At  the 
same  instant,  the  room  was  filled  with  a  new  and 
powerful  odor,  and,  almost  at  the  same  instant,  he 
broke  into  a  crooked  run,  leap,  start,  —  I  have  no 
name  for  the  spasm, — and  fell,  with  a  dull  weight 
that  shook  the  heavy  old  doors  and  windows  in  their 
frames. 

That  was  the  fitting  end  of  him. 

When  we  saw  that  he  was  dead,  we  drew  away 
from  the  room,  and  Meltham,  giving  me  his  hand, 
said,  with  a  weary  air,  — 

"  I  have  no  more  work  on  earth,  my  friend.  But 
I  shall  see  her  again  elsewhere." 

It  was  in  vain  that  I  tried  to   rally  him.     He 


404  HUNTED  DOWN. 

might  have  saved  her,  he  said ;  he  had  not  saved  her, 
and  he  reproached  himself ;  he  had  lost  her,  and  he 
was  broken-hearted. 

"  The  purpose  that  sustained  me  is  over,  Sampson, 
and  there  is  nothing  now  to  hold  me  to  life.  I  am 
not  fit  for  life ;  I  am  weak  and  spiritless ;  I  have 
no  hope  and  no  object ;  my  day  is  done." 

In  truth,  I  could  hardly  have  believed  that  the 
broken  man  who  then  spoke  to  me  was  the  man  who 
had  so  strongly  and  so  differently  impressed  me 
when  his  purpose  was  before  him.  I  used  such 
entreaties  with  him  as  I  could;  but  he  still  said, 
and  always  said,  in  a  patient,  undemonstrative  way, 
—  nothing  could  avail  him,  —  he  was  broken- 
hearted. 

He  died  early  in  the  next  spring.  He  was  buried 
by  the  side  of  the  poor  young  lady  for  whom  he  had 
cherished  those  tender  and  unhappy  regrets;  and 
he  left  all  he  had  to  her  sister.  She  lived  to  be  a 
happy  wife  and  mother ;  she  married  my  sister's 
son,  who  succeeded  poor  Meltham ;  she  is  living 
now,  and  her  children  ride  about  the  garden  on  my 
walking-stick  when  I  go  to  see  her. 


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